Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

404 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP.
self-standing bushy trees, but still have the same
slender geniculate branches.
The pretty Gentianeous shrubs of the genus
Tachia have long, slender, hollowed branches, that
either hang down or support themselves on the
branches of adjoining shrubs and trees ;
[yet
an un-
although this character is (as I suppose)
doubted inheritance of the effects of ant -agency,
it is singular that Tachias are nowadays often found
entirely free from ants ; while
the name, taken by
Aublet from the Tupi language, distinctly implies
that in his day they were notoriously ant-infested.]
The genus Tachigalia, spoken of above, also doubtless
owed its name to the same peculiarity, which
it still enjoys unabated. Aublet tells us he got
these and other Tupi names from a colony of
Indians from Para, who had crossed the Amazon
and established themselves in Cayenne.
Some Habeas are still more remarkable, the
long sarmentose branches stretching away
to a
great length among the adjacent vegetation,
although never actually twining. All Mabeas of
the section Taquari have this habit, and all are
infested by Tachi ants. The slender but tough
twigs, hollowed and polished interiorly by ants, are
a favourite material for tobacco-pipes with the
Indians of the Amazon, who strip off the bark and
paint and varnish the surface of the wood. These
"
Taquaris," as they are called, are commonly sold
in the shops at Para. A bundle of them which
I purchased there is now in the Kew Museum.
The arborescent Mabeas, however, with tall erect
trunks and paniculate inflorescence, are apparently
never touched by ants.