T. Heilbron 2012.Botanical relics of the plantations - osodresie

(a) locations observed in the field (red dots) and collections from
NHN (yellow dots)
Figure 6: Phoenix reclinata
(b) adult on plantation Reijnsdorp,
Commewijne and fruits
(Fig. 6). Wessels Boer (1965) and Ostendorf (1962) note that this clustered palm was locally
frequent along the lower Commewijne river, the Suriname river and the coastal swamps near
Matapica. Always encountered in a brackish environment, conditions in Suriname appear similar
to the palm original habitat in Africa (Von Fintel et al., 2004). The interviews revealed that few
people knew about the palm’s African origin and connection to the period of slavery. Uses
encountered during fieldwork were limited. The fruits (1-2cm) are occasionally eaten, mostly
by children. The fruits can be left in water overnight to enhance the ripening. Given the palm’s
many uses in Africa (Kinnaird, 1992), much knowledge on this species seems to have been lost.
A local banana variety (Musa x paradisiaca) was collected under the vernacular name
‘loweman bakba’. This variety’s fruits have a thick angular peel (Fig. 7a). In Sranan Tongo
(Surinamese language) ‘loweman’ means a runaway slave and ‘bakba’ is a term used for bananas.
This plant was collected in a Javanese community on plantation Reijnsdorp. Interviews
revealed that the villagers’ ancestors encountered this plant ‘growing wild in the forest’ and that
the few remaining former slaves on the plantation told them that this was the ‘loweman bakba’,
that was grown by slaves and used as food during their escape from the plantations. Also, a
collection of ‘loweman bakba’ was made from a yard in Paramaribo. The owner received this
plant from a friend from the maroon village Dritabiki (Sipaliwini district in Eastern Suriname).
Due to its drift seed properties, Caesalpinia bonduc occurs naturally along beaches worldwide
(Rehm & Espig, 1991), including the coast of Suriname. The seeds are widely used as
marbles in a game called ‘agi’ (Ewe) or ‘aware’ (Twi) in Ghana (van Andel et al., 2012). The
‘agi’ game was unknown to most interviewed people, except for one man originally from Dritabiki.
He told that ‘the game is still played by some elderly people, but the youth does not know
this game. These seeds are known, but the game is not played with them anymore’. Maroons
use Ormosia seeds to play the ‘agi’ game nowadays (Van Andel, unpublished data).
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