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Thirty Years on the Byways of BrazilAuthor(s): Nels ChristiansonSource: Cactus and Succulent Journal, 81(3):102-105. 2009.Published By: Cactus and Succulent Society of AmericaDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2985/015.081.0302URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.2985/015.081.0302

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102 CACTUS AND SUCCULENT JOURNAL

In 1902 Brazilian engineer and jour-

nalist Euclides da Cunha, although

not a connoisseur of cacti or of the

caatinga of interior Bahía, published

a brilliant firsthand scientific and lit-

erary account of the late 19th century

campaigns against the religious mys-

tic Antonio Conselheiro, with some

of the most descriptive and striking passag-

es written up to that time about Brazil’s dry

lands, flora, and people. Speaking of the back-

lands dweller he wrote:

The caatinga… stifles him; cuts short his view,

strikes him in the face… enmeshes him in its spiny

woof. It repulses him with its thorns and prickly

leaves, its twigs sharp as lances….”

It was to this intriguing region, whose native

Tupi designation means “white forest,” and to

the adjoining cerrado (“woods of stunted trees”)

that the 2008 CSSA Tour was headed, because

these two regions in the states of Bahía and

Minas Gerais hold the greatest number and

diversity of cacti in Brazil. It is well known—

and should be mentioned again—that much of

the flora and fauna of these regions is in great

peril. From the perspective of habitat destruc-

tion, the Amazon gets more press, but the cer-

rado has been widely devastated by fire and

other human activity.

I did not want to miss the opportunity to

see Brazil and its flora with the CSSA. It had

been five years since my last visit, and I was

ready for some exotic cacti and good food! In

a way, Brazil has been a part of my life since I

began to study Portuguese in 1971, and truly

since February 1976, when I landed in Manaus

on a flight from Bogotá. I was on my way to

Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, hav-

ing won an ambassadorial scholarship from the

Rotary Foundation to study Brazilian literature

at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. My

short stop in the state of Amazonas was just the

beginning of a lifelong appreciation and inves-

tigation of Brazilian culture and ecology.

Since the 1970s the Brazilian economy has

diversified and grown tremendously, the pop-

ulation has swollen, agriculture in the caatin-

ga has become more viable, and the cerrado has

faced the pressures of mining and the destruc-

tion of vast tracts of pequi (Caryocar brasiliensis)

and other trees for use as charcoal in the steel

industry. These areas have been replanted with

eucalyptus for the same purpose. With devas-

tation ever enroaching, the native animals and

plants make their last stand in the mountains,

NELS CHRISTIANSON

TUPI-GUARANI PLACE AND PLANT NAMES

Tupi-Guarani is a family of languages from the Amazonian

region of Brazil south along the Brazilian coast and in

Paraguay. Some of the many cultures represented are

Tupinambá, Tamoio, Caeté, Amoipira, Tupiná, Potiguara,

and Guarani. Classical Tupi, now a dead language, was used

as a lingua franca in Brazil in the 16th–18th centuries but

waned as European immigration and mining increased and

after the Jesuits were expelled in 1759. Guarani is an offi-

cial language in Paraguay. Thousands of Tupi words such

as abacaxi from “perfumed fruit” (pineapple), piranha from

“devil fish,” arara (macaw), and Iguaçu (from “great river”)

were incorporated into Brazilian Portuguese, and fully 40%

of Brazilian municipalities have Tupi names. On the CSSA

trip we passed through Iuiú (a type of small fish), Caitités

(wild pigs), Guanambi (hummingbird), and Itatim (nose

rock) in Bahía, and Janaúba (milky plant), Itamarandiba

(round pebble river), Araçuaí (river of large macaws), and

Itaobim (green mountain) in Minas Gerais. The peoples

of the Brazilian coast called their land Pindorama (palm

country). Of interest to botanists are mandacaru (Cereus

jamacaru), quipá (Tacinga inamoena), caroá (Neoglaziovia

variegata), macambira (Bromelia laciniosa), imburama de

cambão (Commiphora leptophloeos), mandioca (Manihot

esculenta), mulungu (Erythrina velutina), umbu (Spondias

tuberosa), mororó (Bauhinia), embiratanha (Pseudobombax

marginatum), and many, many others.

2009 VOLUME 81 NUMBER 3 CACTI OF EASTERN BRAZIL 103

rocky hills, and in the few bits of unclaimed for-

est. Although the destructive pressure to extract

from the land continues, there is room for hope.

An environmental movement became active in

the 1970s and has become mainstream in the

last twenty years. National and state parks have

been created throughout Brazil to preserve areas

that are still pristine. Threatened populations

have been saved.

I was privileged during the year and a half

that I lived in Belo Horizonte to travel to four-

teen Brazilian states and to visit cerrado, caat-

inga, restinga, Atlantic forest, and Amazonian

forest habitats, as well as the giant swampland

that is the Pantanal. I also was introduced to cof-

fee, banana, citrus, sugarcane, cacao, cashew, and

palm oil plantations, dairy farms, and Brahma

and Nelore cattle ranches. I was at the inaugu-

ration of the first Brazilian Fiat plant in Betim,

Minas Gerais, in 1976. I witnessed the birth

of Brazil’s innovative gas-alcohol program. In

1977 I toured the Itaipu Dam (the world’s larg-

est, last year supplying 90% of Paraguay’s energy

and 19% of Brazil’s) during its construction on

the Paraná River bordering Paraguay and was

among the last individuals to see the glory of

Sete Quedas waterfalls, which were irreparably

inundated upstream from the dam by 1982.

In the intervening years I have returned more

than a dozen times to Brazil. But only on a few

occasions have I been able to get out into the

field specifically to visit cactus and succulent

habitats. One of my first such adventures was

on a trip in the early 1980s, when I convinced

some friends in Montes Claros to take me a few

miles out of town on the highway west toward

Januária and the São Francisco River, where we

climbed a rock outcropping loaded with cere-

oids, Tacinga, and succulent bromeliads. At the

time, I did not register the names, but I knew

then that I wanted to see more wild succulents.

In 1984 I joined CSSA, and a few years later

I was back in Belo Horizonte and made a call

to cactus explorer Eddie Esteves in Goiânia,

Goiás. We had a pleasant conversation about

cacti and his many discoveries. He invited me

to visit, and though I was unable to do so, upon

his suggestion I drove the short distance to the

neighboring county of Nova Lima a few days

later to find Arthrocereus campos-portoi grow-

ing on rocks not far f rom the road. In 1993 I

spent Carnaval in Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro

state. At night we participated in the festivities,

and during the day I had the chance to appre-

ciate Pilosocereus ulei and P. arrabidae along

the surrounding coastline. On another visit to

Belo Horizonte in 1995 I went with a friend to

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104 CACTUS AND SUCCULENT JOURNAL

visit the caves of Maquiné and Lapinha in the

region of Sete Lagoas and photographed Cere-

us jamacaru growing on the rock face. Short-

ly after my return home I put a bug in the ear

of my friend and former CSSA President Sey-

mour Linden about the need to consider a talk

on Brazil at a CSSA Convention. Perhaps that

was one of the motivations for inviting Pierre

Braun to speak at the San Diego Convention

in 1997. He gave two talks, and one has espe-

cially stayed with me—an enlightening presen-

tation on Discocactus and the imminent danger

of extinction that some species faced.

In 1999, I contacted Marlon Machado in

Bahía, after being impressed by his website,

and asked if he would be willing to take me

to a few habitats. During that short visit to

Morro do Chapéu, Marlon took me to five or

six locations and I was able to see most of the

35+ species of cacti that grow in that Bahían

county. Once home, I gave slide presentations

of my trips to Brazil to the Southern Califor-

nia cactus and succulent clubs. I also took every

opportunity to extol the diversity and beauty

of Brazilian plants to succulent enthusiasts, the

staff of the Huntington Botanic Garden, and

attendees of the Huntington symposia. It was

not difficult work because Uebelmannia pec-

tinifera, U. buiningii, and melocacti had a spe-

cial cache in the hobby at the time. Although I

did not grow many Brazilian plants, I became

known as the guy who knew about Brazil, and

little by little my campaign to interest hobby-

ists in Brazilian plants took root.

In August 2003, I traveled to Brazil with

Woody Minnich and Tom Knapik for two

weeks in northern Minas Gerais. We rented a

Fiat Dobló in Belo Horizonte, a vehicle that

served us well over many dirt roads. We vis-

ited most of the Uebelmannia sites, including

the critically endangered U. buiningii, finding

only seven plants where in the late 1970s there

were hundreds, if not thousands. We found our

way to the Grão Mogol area where we had the

privilege of seeing Discocactus horstii, Pilosocere-

us fulvilanatus, and Micranthocereus auriazureus,

some of the most stunning species in the cactus

world. We stopped in Pedra Azul, with its near-

by sites of Coleocephalocereus aureus, and Itin-

ga, with the somewhat rare C. purpureus, both

locales that also abounded in various bromeliad

species. When we returned home word spread

about our trip and all three of us were asked

to speak at cactus and succulent, bromeliad,

and other societies in California and Nevada.

Now, just outside of Pedra Azul, at the base of

a granite inselberg where we had stopped in

2003, there were no longer any Coleocephaloce-

reus aureus, where before there were hundreds.

I suspected fire.

In the intervening years collectors have been

able to purchase more Brazilian species. Rhipsa-

lis, Discocactus, Uebelmannia, Melocactus, Notocac-

tus, Pilosocereus, and succulent bromeliads have

become more widely available and appreciated.

ISI has introduced many Brazilian plants. In

addition, Bill Baker and others have recently

released some spectacular Dyckia hybrids.

In the pages that follow it will be obvious

that the CSSA trip was enjoyable, education-

al, and illuminating—a success in every way.

Along the 6000 km we traveled in those three

weeks we saw more than 80 cactus species, as

well as some very interesting succulent plants

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2009 VOLUME 81 NUMBER 3 CACTI OF EASTERN BRAZIL 105

in such groups as Euphorbia, Peperomia, Portu-

laca, Dyckia, Encholirium, Orthophytum, Com-

miphora, Ceiba, and Pseudobombax. Addition-

ally, we saw a myriad of palms, orchids, bego-

nias, aroids, legumes, tibouchinas, and non-

succulent bromeliads. We gained a renewed

appreciation for Brazil’s numerous (and often

blue!) columnar cacti. With the exception of

the Coleocephalocereus purpureus population that

we felt may have been intentionally decimated

in order to facilitate possible mining, and the

largely over-collected Uebelmannia sites, near-

ly all of the plant communities appeared to be

healthy and prospering.

On the trip we tasted manioc (Manihot escu-

lenta, a euphorb) in many forms in Bahía, ora

pro nobis (Pereskia) in a stew in Diamantina,

and barbecued javelina, paca, and capybara in

Montes Claros. The meals were delicious and

the food plentiful, sometimes preceded by a

refreshing caipirinha made of cachaça (a dis-

tilled sugarcane liquor), limejuice, and lots of

sugar. One of the highlights of the trip was

meeting Marylan Coelho, discoverer of Arro-

jadoa marylanae, who took us up to the top of

the Serra Escura to show us her cactus. Later,

we also met her teacher, Avaldo Soares Filho

from the Federal University of Bahía at Vitória

da Conquista and bromeliad specialist Ray-

mundo Reis Junior. Marylan expressed great

concern for the Serra Escura, because a simi-

lar nearby mountain is being leveled by mining,

and prospectors looking for mining potential

have already dynamited a small tunnel in the

Serra Escura itself. Such activity poses one of

the greatest risks to succulent plants in Bahía

and Minas Gerais.

On a lighter note, I did succeed in teaching

the tour participants to give a hearty “bom dia”

every morning and to express their thanks with

a simple “obrigado.” Now it is my turn to thank

Dan Mahr and the CSSA Field Trips Commit-

tee who worked so diligently to plan a safe and

enjoyable tour, as well as our able guides, Mar-

lon Machado and Graham Charles, who pro-

vided valuable data both before and during the

trip and who were nonpareil in their enthusi-

asm for the spectacular habitats and the special

plants we saw. To them all, muito obrigado.

once at the edge of a Brazilian farmin the dry county of Morro do Chapéu I found themwe cornered the owner’s permission to cross his landhis invitation to a frothy café com leitethen to walk quietly past his black and white milk goatswho paraded fat and content with spring grassbut the field of thorn bushes and cactus with oval padsaugured a xeric season

we found the prickly balls by the dozenabove the rockbanded riverblue melons of untossed grenadesexploding in rows of spinesensconced on the sun-facing ledgeswe marveled at these rare ornamentswhose cloudy blue skin mirrored skygetting down on all fourswe took photos composed of shadows and stones

I lingered belly down on the bright rock outcroppinga lizard like a crusty calango taking in the heatknowing what discoveries a man makeswhen he travels across the globehow he wanders in awe around themhow he wants to claim them and name thema rock ledge with cacti and a field of goatsif only for his remembrances

—Nels Christianson

Melocactus glaucescens

All quotations from: da Cunha E. 1944. Rebellion in the Backlands (Os sertões, 1902). University of Chicago Press.