In the Realm of Rubber - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 211

America empires—cacao and rubber as well as that subsidy to central American sub-
sistence, peach palm, an important carbohydrate and fat resource—are from this region.
Other widely planted crops like manioc, runner beans, peanuts, some chiles, tomatoes,
coca, ayahuasca , guava, and ingá (custard bean) appear to have also been domesticated
there. The region seems to have been especially important for tree crops, 35 and latex
trees were probably also part of the suite of domesticates.
EthnographicworkwithmanygroupssuggeststhatAmazoniancosmovisionsinvolve
humanparticipationina“societyofnature”wherethemeaningsofthewildandthetame
are modulated within a landscape 36 —a range of plants that produce latex, fuels, medi-
cines,poisons,fibers,oils,animalattractants,andothernoncomestibleproductsthatmay
be seen by outsiders and agronomists as “wild” even as they were probably subject to a
form of indigenous “socialization” into landscapes, histories, and gardens.
One famous, and now mostly forgotten, botanist of domestication, Edgar Anderson,
andhiscolleagueattheMissouriBotanicalGarden(andlateroftheUSDA)R.J.Seibert,
viewed Hevea as domesticated. They, like Schultes, worked on rubber as a consequence
of the vulnerabilities of US supply when Asian sources were cut off during World War
II. Anderson and Seibert were quite convinced of the domestication or semi-domestic-
ation of many of the species of Hevea in light of their exceptional ability to hybridize.
Seibertnotedmany“hybridswarms”inareaswherehumanhabitationwasoflongstand-
ing, such as the area around Iquitos. 37
The Secret Life of Seringa
The importance of Hevea latex in industrial processes may have overshadowed the ori-
ginal logic of its domestication or semi-domestication. Seibert and Anderson, based on
an extensive analysis of herbarium exemplars, regional travels, and ethnobotanical ex-
perience, argued that Heveas were initially grown for their nuts, which had to be pro-
cessed in ways similar to those for manioc order to remove their cyanic acids. The
French botanist who first described Hevea in Guyana, Aublet (whom we met in an
earlier chapter), pointed out the Galibis ate them with enjoyment, 38 and Schultes re-
ported the use of nuts in ceremonial meals along with smoked boar or tapir meat, and
noted indeed that the seeds ofalmost all Heveas in the Northwest Amazon were eaten. 39
The renowned botanist Richard Spruce described Hevea deliciously: “The genus seems
abundant throughout the Amazon but not all species yield caouctchouc of good quality.
. . .Theseedsareexcellentbaitforfish.Macawseatthemgreedily,buttomanandquad-
ruped they are poisonous in a fresh state. The Indians on Uaupes render them eatable in
thisway:afterbeingboiledfortwentyfourhours,theliquorisstrainedoff,andthemass
that remains has something of the consistency of rice long boiled. Eaten along with fish,
it is exceedingly savory.” 40