Flora e vegetação do Brasil na Carta de Caminha

Abstract

An analysis of the terms related to plants and vegetation types found in the letter by Pero Vaz de Caminha (scriber of the expedition) to D. Manoel I, king of Portugal (“Carta a El Rei D. Manoel) is presented. The letter, written in 1500, is an account of the voyage of the Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral during which a new land (“Terra da Vera Cruz”, now Brazil) was discovered. Because of its tremendous historical importance to Brazil, the Carta has been considered the birth certificate of the country. Each line of the text was numbered (from 1 to 1013), then each line was carefully examined for words that refer directly or indirectly to plants or plant associations. 118 such references were found, 77 of which are repeated two to 22 times. When the repetitions were subtracted, 45 botanical terms resulted, 31 direct references (ex.: “herbs,” “fire wood”) and 14 indirect (ex.: “bow”, “arrow”). Two terms refer to vegetation types and 43 to plants or plant parts. Five direct references refer to introduced species (ex.: rice, figs), the remaining 24 refer to native species. These were divided into four categories: 1. Terms not referable to any specific botanical name (ex.: seed, fruits) 2. Terms referable to plant families (ex.: palms, cane; families Arecaceae and Poaceae, respectively); terms referable to plant genera (ex. “ervas compridas (Sargassum), “fetos” (Alsophilla); terms referable to a botanical species (“ouriços verdes”, “grãos vermelhos”, i.e., Bixa orellana L.). The first plant resources extracted from the newly found land by the Portuguese explorers were fire wood and palm hearts.