What is "leopoldinia piassaba"

Piassava \Pi*as"sa*va\, n. [Pg. piasaba.] A fibrous product of two Brazilian palm trees ( Attalea funifera and Leopoldinia Piassaba), -- used in making brooms, and for other purposes. Called also pia[,c]aba and piasaba.

Leopoldinia piassaba (Para piassava, Piassava fiber palm, Piassava palm) is a palm native to black water rivers in Amazonian Brazil and Venezuela, from which is extracted piassava, a high caliber and water resistant fiber. Piassaba fiber is made into brooms, baskets, and other products. This plant is also a natural habitat of the Rhodnius brethesi, which is a potential vector of Chagas disease, and it is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.