Toquilla, growing on the banks of the Rio Napo, Orellana Province.  Toquilla, a short monocotic angiosperm that resembles a palm, is a very important crop in Ecuador, for two reasons.  First, it is the roof thatching of choice throughout the Oriente and Costa, and second for its value as a fibre.  It is the second use that has made the plant famous, as it is the basis for “Panama” hats, one of Ecuador’s main exports (the hats are named for their point of distribution, Panama).  In Ecuador, the hats are properly referred to as “Montecristi.”  The humble Toquilla plant helped to finance Ecuador’s democratic revolution – Presidente Eloy Alfaro based the new democracy and the country’s budding economy on the export and sale of Panama hats.

The young leaves of Toquilla yield a soft, highly flexible straw that does not lose its flexibility with age, making it ideal for basketry and hatmaking.   Most Montecristi hats have been bleached out to a bone-white colour, but the natural look of Toquilla is a soft, light coffee colour.   Due to the extreme flexibility and resilience of the fibre, a good Montecristi hat can be rolled up and placed in your pocket, then simply shaken back into shape when needed.  The other mark of high quality is that the hat can, in a pinch, be used as a bucket.  Main production of these hats is centered in the highland city of Cuenca.

More mature leaves are used in thatching, the stems forming the anchor on the roof structure.  A Toquilla-thatched roof needs to have its covering renewed about every 10-15 years, whereas other true palm thatches are much shorter lived.