Bactris maraja
Mart.
Maraja
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(c) Robin Heymans, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Robin Heymans
(c) Marcus Athaydes, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Marcus Athaydes
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit, Palm hearts, Cabbage, Seeds
The acidic fruits are commonly eaten fresh and used to make wine. Palm hearts, cabbage, and seeds are also edible portions and are sold in local markets.
Where to Find It
A tropical plant. It grows in forest usually on non flooded soils. It grows at low elevations but can be up to 1000 m altitude.
Amazon, Bolivia*, Brazil*, Central America, Colombia*, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guiana, Guianas, Guyana, Panama, Peru*, South America, Suriname, Venezuela*, West Indies,
How to Identify
A clump forming palm. It has an underground creeping rhizome. The trunks are 4-8 m high and 3-5 cm across. They are covered with dense rings of flattened black spines. Each crown has several leaves. These are 1.5-3 m long. The leaflets point forward and droop. They are shiny and mid green. The midrib is spiny. There are black prickles along the edges of the leaflets. The flowering stalks are 30-50 cm long. The flowers are yellowish. The fruit are rounded and purple-black. They are about 1.5 cm across. The fruit are acid.
How to Grow
Plants are grown from seed.
Propagation: Seed - pre-soak for 24 hours in warm water and sow in containers. Germination takes 2 months or more. The seed has a limited viability and needs to be sown as fresh as possible. Division.
Other Uses
A useful fibre is obtained from the leaves. The trunk of this palm is used locally by the Indian inhabitants for the terminal portion of the arrow.
Other Information
The fruit are commonly eaten. It is sold in local markets.
Notes
There are 239 Bactris species. There are 75 species in tropical America. Most Bactris have fruit that are edible but many are not attractive.
Names & Synonyms
Alar, Bi ni, Chacarra, Chambira neja, Chirqui, Chontilla, Chontilla conguillo, Dageypemoe, Emetogahue, Espina, Kiskismaka, Lata sabanera, Maraja-assu, Mogor, Muraya kamancha, Nanaguemo, Nieja, Niejilla, Palmeirinha, Piritu, Tana, Tucum-bravo, Uva del Montana, Uvita
References (26)
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