This Study combines botany, ethnography, and history to describe the use
and administration of botanical resources on Puna Island in Ecuador.
Evidence of sustained human settlements on the Island -- strategically
located in the Gulf of Guayaquil -- date back more than 5000 years to
the Early Formative Period. This island and its flora and vegetation are
intricately linked to the development of the earliest pre-Columbian
agrarian and maritime civilizations. After European contact in the 15th
century, the island became an important centre for trade and its
extensive forests were an important resource for the ship-building
industry of the entire South Pacific.
This book provides information on the Island's geography, geology,
climate, socioeconomy, infrastructure, and history of botanical
exploration. The vegetation of the island is described in terms of plant
communities, structure, floristic composition, dynamics, and phenology.
A chapter is devoted to the history of plant use from the pre-Columbian
epoch and up to the present day. The famous balsa rafts with sails made
of domesticated native cotton impressed the Spanish naval engineers and
sailors. In the 16th century, Lima, the Peruvian capital, was build on
mangrove woods exploited from Puna Island and the Gulf of Guayaquil.
Present day ethnobotany on the island is presented and it is shown that
vernacular plant names suggest separate dialect areas.
This is the first documented flora for Puna Island. It contains brief
descriptions and keys to identification of all 431 known native and
naturalised plant species on the Island. Approximately 15% of the
Island's plant species are endemic to southwestern Ecuador and adjacent
Peru, and23% are shared with the Galapagos Islands. The area of
distribution, uses, and phenology of the various species is also
described. The main cultivated plants are also listed with notes on
uses, origin and introduction to the Island. This study of the
vegetation on one island offers more than plant information, it also
provides an insight into the conditions under which the inhabitants
lived and used the available flora.
