imbé

plural imbés

1. A South American liana, Philodendron imbe.

   Many vessels were built there; and the principal exports were wood and cordage, made of the imbé.

   1819, Robert Southey, chapter XLIV, in History of Brazil, 3rd part, London: […] [William Pople] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], →OCLC, page 862

   4 more examples

   In Brazil there are at least six very different species of this family. […] The straight ropes on the right are the air-roots of the imbé; […]

   1875, Franz Keller, The Amazon and Madeira Rivers: Sketches and Descriptions from the Note-book of an Explorer

   Other curious plants grew at this spot, among which I noticed the aninga, a plant which belongs to the Colocasice. On the trees around, too, were many beautiful orchids and lianas, among which the rope-like roots of the large-leaved imbé attracted my attention; […]

   1883, Mary Hayden Pike, Ida May, by Mary Langdon, ed. by an English clergyman, page 350

   Enthroned in the crown, a stately imbé, in the axils leafy bromelia with their gorgeous flowers, along the branches[…]. The lianas, like close-fitting blinds, drew an impenetrable curtain before our eyes; yet we continued to stare bewitched […]

   1940, Hanna Rydh, Argentine to Andes, page 20

   The weapons they use in these pursuits are finished with extraordinary skill. Their long bows are all veneered with bark from imbé lianas and their arrows are made of a wood of great elasticity and worked so well that they look machine-made.

   1987, John Hemming, Amazon Frontier: The Defeat of the Brazilian Indians, page 449