Carnauba wax

Description

Carnauba wax is obtained from the leaves of a species of an American genus of palm designated as Copernica cerifera Martius, named in honor of Copernicus. The name carnauba is believed to be a corruption of the Tupy carnahyba, compounded from caraná, or carandá, meaning scaly, thick-skinned, or thick-barked, and yba, meaning tree or palm.

C. cerifera grows in the dry desolate country in the region of Ceará, northeastern Brazil. It grows in lesser quantities in the south of Brazil and the Chaco country in northern Argentina and Paraguay. The wax-gathering industry is centered in Parahyba moving northward to Rio Grande do Norte, and Ceará, but also extends eastward to Piauhy (Piauí) and the state of Maranhao. The largest export center is Bahia on the Atlantic Seaboard. The first large shipments of the wax were made from Ceará in 1854. In Europe the wax has been an article of trade for more than a century. About two-thirds of the product now comes into the United States.

The carnauba is a straight-trunked palm of slow growth, attaining an average height of 25 to 35 feet, but seldom sore than 40 to 50 feet even after 50 years of growth. The bark is scaly, rough, and thick, and the leaves grow out from yard-long petioles in wide serried fan shapes. The tree reproduces prolifically. The ovaloid fruit resembles a hazelnut, and when ripe it falls to the ground, where dense clumps of shoots spring up, some of which survive to form saplings.

The flowers are monoecious, very small and numerous, and grow from an appendix in the axils of the leaves. During the dry months the leaves ande petioles exude a wax through the pores. Nature provides this wax to prevent excessive evaporation of water from the plant. The summer sun from July to December seems to stimulate the production of wax, altough the available wax may even increase with the occasional winter rains. The best quality of wax is obtained from the young tender leaves which are gathered three times from September to March.

There are two varieties of the carnauba palm south of the banks of the Sao Francisco River, which the natives distinguish as white and red. A black variety also exists. The palm have no master root; the roots stretch out over the surface of the ground in search of moisture. The carnauba palm prefers to grow along the banks of rivers and lakes, but it is also found in small isolated groves from the damp lowlands along the coast to the forest of the interior.

Economic Value of the Carnauba Palm

The carnauba palm is of great value to the sertanejos, the inhabitants of these flat semiarid lands, and the historical evolution of the Brazilian setao is closely allied with this rough-barked, fan-topped palm, which supplies him not only food, drink, and a cash crop, but also fibers for clothing, timber for housebuilding, and even his light. The timber is hard and useful for laths to take plaster, pilings which will resist the brackish waters, bridges, fences, and excellent furniture. It is almost impervious to the attack of insects. The bark may be used as firewood. The leaves are utilized for window and door shades. There is food value in the tender end shoots and from them can also be made wine, vinegar, and a saccharine substance. The bunches of fruit, rust-colored when ripe and dried, may be crushed for cooking oil. The roasted and pulverized fruit may be brewed to a coffee-like drink. A starchy flour like manioc flour can be prepared from the medullary pith, or the pith may be fermented to an alcoholic drink. A starchy flour like manioc flour can be prepared from the medullary pith, or the pith may be fermented to an alcoholic drink. A medicinal is extracted from the roots. The saplings and tender shoot are fed to cattle in case of drought.

The important hat industry of Ceará uses the superior quality of carnauba leaves, turning them into hats similar to Panamas which are shipped everywhere in Brazil. The natives sleep in hammocks made from the fibers. Fine cordage, nets, baskets, mats, and curtains are also woven from the fibers. The fiber from the petiole is made into brooms and brushes. Although only the wax has given the carnauba palm universal renown, it can be readily understood that there is no plant in the existence that is of greater value to the Brazilian native. For light he melts a mall portion of allow with the wax, and solidifies the melt around a cotton wick to form a candle. The carnauba candle, however, is not the best source of ilumination!