Bactris bidentula
Spruce
Nejilla
ArecaceaeFruit
iNaturalist · cc-by
(c) Enrique Salazar, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Enrique Salazar
(c) Enrique Salazar, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Enrique Salazar
iNaturalist · cc-by
(c) Enrique Salazar, some rights reserved (CC BY)
(c) Enrique Salazar, some rights reserved (CC BY)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit
Leaves - cooked. The apical bud, often known as a 'palm heart', is eaten as a vegetable. Eating this bud leads to the death of the tree because it is unable to make side shoots.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical plant. It grows on flood plains and in black water streams. It grows between 80-200 m above sea level.
Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guianas, Peru, South America, Venezuela,
How to Identify
A palm. It forms clumps. There can be 50 trunks. They grow 4 m tall. There are spines on the trunk. There are about 12 fruit in a clump. The fruit are rounded. They are about 2 cm across. The skin is red. The flesh is acidic. The flesh is pale green and there is one black seed.
Names & Synonyms
Kew Plants of the World onLine
Lopez-Diago, D. & Garcia, N., 2021, Wild edible fruits of Colombia. Biota ColomBiana 22 (2) p 31
Marcia, M. J., et al, 2011, Palm Uses in Northwestern South America: A Quantitative Review. Bot. Rev. (2011) 77:462-570
Roa, J. A. G. & Boada, D. S. G., 2018, Fundación para el Fortalecimiento de la Fruticultura y Plantas Alimenticias no Convencionales en Colombia.
Smith, N., et al, 2007, Amazon River Fruits. Flavors for Conservation. Missouri Botanical Gardens Press. p 50
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
