Euterpe oleracea Mart.
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Authority
Mori, S. A., et al. 1997. Guide to the vascular plants of central French Guiana: Part 1. Pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and monocotyledons. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 76: 1-422.
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Family
Arecaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Tall, multi-stemmed, canopy plants, the trunks 1 to many, 20 m X 12-18 cm, usually forming large clumps with basal sucker shoots and dense, conical mass of bright-red roots, these with white pneumatorhizae at base, the internodes hardly visible. Leaves 8-14, first erect, then spreading, with drooping leaflets; sheath 0.9-1.2 m long, the crownshaft green to reddish; petiole 10-20 cm long, curved, green, convex below, concave above; rachis 2-2.5 m long; pinnae in 50-60 pairs, yellowish-green, straight, linear, ± pendulous, 35-100 X 1-3 cm. Inflorescences with peduncle 10-15 cm long, green, glabrous, subconical; prophyll 50-70 cm long, the peduncular bract 60-100 cm long, both brown, membranous and early deciduous; rachis 20-50 cm long, whitishlepidote, bearing 60-130, white-tomentose rachillae 20-60 cm long. Fruits globose, glabrous, smooth, 10-15 mm diam., purplish black at maturity; endosperm ruminate.
Distribution and Ecology - Fl, fr (year round); very common in swamp forest and along creeks; the fruits are edible and the apical meristems are marketed and eaten as palm hearts. Pinot, wassai.