The vegetable ivory industry: surviving and doing well in Ecuador

Buttons made of vegetable ivory were once in great demand in industrial parts of the world. Vegetable ivory is the hard white seed endosperm from palms of the genus Phytelephas (Arecaceae). After World War II, ivory nuts were largely replaced by plastics. Recently the authors visited a factory on th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economic botany 1990-09, Vol.44 (3), p.293-300
Main Authors: BARFOD, A. S, BERGMANN, B, PEDERSEN, H. B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Biological and medical sciences
ecuador
Endocarp
Endosperm
endosperma
endosperme
equateur
Factories
Fruits
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Generalities. Biometrics, experimentation. Remote sensing
Generalities. Information. Documentation. Research
graine
Mannans
Nuts
phytelephas
plant products
Plantations
procesamiento
processing
productos de origen vegetal
produit vegetal
Seeds
semilla
Testa
traitement
Vegetables
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Summary:Buttons made of vegetable ivory were once in great demand in industrial parts of the world. Vegetable ivory is the hard white seed endosperm from palms of the genus Phytelephas (Arecaceae). After World War II, ivory nuts were largely replaced by plastics. Recently the authors visited a factory on the coast of Ecuador that was founded in 1926 and still produces buttons of vegetable ivory on a large scale. Eighty employees produce about 5000 lb of buttons a month; these are exported to Japan, West Germany, and Italy. The production is described step by step and the future of vegetable ivory is discussed briefly. /// Botones hechos de tagua o marfil vegetal fueron anteriormente solicitados por la industria mundial. Tagua es la semilla-endosperma dura y blanca de palmeras de la subfamilia Phytelephantoideae. Después de la segunda Guerra Mundial, el tagua fue reemplazado por plásticos. Recientemente, los autores han visitados una empresa en la costa de Ecuador establecidan en 1926, que todavía produce botones de marfil vegetal. Ochenta empleados producen 5000 lb de botones al mes que son exportados al Japón, Allemania Occidental e Italia. La producción se describe etapa por etapa y la avenida de tagua se trata en breve.
ISSN:0013-0001
1874-9364
DOI:10.1007/BF03183910