Attalea (plant) important economically. Products extracted from "A. speciosa" were reported to support over 300,000 households in the Brazilian state of Maranhão in 2005, and in 1985 it was estimated to support over 450,000 households throughout the Brazil. Piassava fibres, extracted from the leaf bases of "A. funifera", are commercially important, and generated about US$20 million in annual income to Brazilian farmers in 1996. Attalea (plant) Attalea is a large genus of palms native to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. This pinnately leaved, nonspiny genus includes both small palms lacking an aboveground stem and large trees. The genus has
Castilla (plant) been extracted. The vernacular name is "Panama rubber tree" or "castilloa rubber". The pre-Columbian MesoAmericans used the latex of this plant to make a ball used in a ceremonial game. Rubber Castilla (plant) Castilla (sometimes incorrectly spelled "Castilloa") is a genus of 3 species of large trees in the flowering plant family Moraceae. The genus is native to Central and South America. This genus is named after Juan Diego del Castillo (d. 1793), a Spanish botanist who was a friend of Vicente Cervantes, who chose the name in his friend's honor. "Castilla" species are monoecious or dioecious trees up to