thumb|Attalea maripa - [[MHNT]]

Attalea maripa, commonly called maripa palm is a palm native to tropical South America and Trinidad and Tobago. It grows up tall and can have leaves or fronds long, bearing up to 636 leaflets. This plant has a yellow edible fruit which is oblong ovoid and cream. An edible oil can be extracted from the pulp of the fruit and from the kernel of the seed.

Description

Attalea maripa is a large palm that grows from tall. Stems range from in diameter, occasionally reaching up to . Trees have 10 to 22 leaves with long petioles. Fruit are large and brown Recent work has favoured maintaining all Attaleinae in a single genus, Attalea.

Vernacular names

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|colspan="50%" align="center"|Common names of Attalea maripa

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|Anajá

|Brazil

In Trinidad, A. maripa is a characteristic species in the savannas that develop when forests are converted to grasslands through repeated fires. British forester J. S. Beard termed these savannas "Cocorite Savannas" (after the local name for A. maripa).

Uses

Carbonised Attalea maripa seeds have been found in archaeological sites in Colombia dating back to 9000 BP. The Huaorani of Amazonian Ecuador use the mesocarps for food. They use the petiole and leaf rachis to make blowgun darts and sleeping mats, the petioles for torches, the pinnae for kindling and the stems for firewood. In addition to using is as a food species, Kayapó of Brazil use the species as a source of salt, and value it because it attracts wildlife. The leaves are also used for thatching.

See also

  • List of plants of Amazon Rainforest vegetation of Brazil
  • List of palms of the Caribbean

References

Notes

Further reading

  • Schultes, Richard E. (1974). Palms and religion in the northeast Amazon. Principes 18 (1): 3-21. Astrocaryum vulgare, Bactris gasipaes, Euterpe oleracea, E. precatoria, Leopoldinia piassaba, Maximiliana martiana, Oenocarpus bacaba, Socratea exorrhiza
  • University of Melbourne: Synonyms of Attalea maripa

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