Alumni CLASnotes Spring 2009
In This Issue:
CLAS Act
Titanoboa
Predicting the Invasion
Flavors for Conservation
Reaching Out
UF Teach
Winning the Fight Against Malaria
Campus Views
Updates from CLASmates
Alumni Bookshelf
Dean's Circle
Keeping Up With CLAS
College Calendar
Submit Update
Alumni CLASnotes Back Issues
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Flavors for Conservation


Geographer Nigel Smith has spent his career researching and promoting fruits most of us have never heard of, but which might some day be grocery staples. For more information on this rainforest bounty, pick up a copy of Smith's book Amazon River Fruits, or visit National Geographic News at to read a featured article on his research.

Below: Rich in vitamins C and A, aguaje (Mauritia flexuosa) is the Amazon's answer to oranges and carrots. It is one of more than a hundred wild and domesticated fruits available to residents of Peru's Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. Mainly a children's treat in the Peruvian Amazon, the sweet, juicy yumanasa (Muntingia calabura) is common along the banks of sediment-rich rivers.

 

--Photos by Nigel Smith.

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