Word: ceiba
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...takes a moment to realize what I am seeing: a monkey in a tree. To be specific, it is a black spider monkey (Ateles paniscus) swinging through the topmost branches of a ceiba tree in the rain forest in Suriname, the former Dutch Guyana, north of Brazil. Thick-furred, with a red face, the monkey moves by sprawling out and brachiating from branch to branch through the high forest canopy; its long, prehensile tail functions as an arm. It pauses and looks down with the cool expression of a teenager. A monkey in a tree...
...healers concoct poultices and infusions from the leaves, bark and roots of local plants, using them for conditions that range from high fever to appendicitis. Among them are root of 'Ago (Curcuma longa) for rashes, leaves of the kuava tree (Psidium guajava) for diarrhea, and the bark of vavae (Ceiba pentandra) for asthma. Virtually all the healers are women who learned their art from their mothers, who in turn learned it from their mothers. Now knowledge of the recipes and their administration, even the location of the plants in the forests, is endangered as more and more daughters forgo...