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| Caryocar nuciferum | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Caryocaraceae |
| Genus: | Caryocar |
| Species: | C. nuciferum |
| Binomial name | |
| Caryocar nuciferum | |
| Synonyms | |
Caryocar tomentosumWilld. | |
Caryocar nuciferum, thebutter-nut of Guiana, is a fruit tree native to Central and South America.
Caryocar nuciferum grows up to 35 metres (115 ft) in humid forests. Flowers arehermaphroditic and in small clusters. The large coconut-sized fruit, weighs about 3 kilograms (6.6 lb), is round or pear-shaped some 10–15 centimetres (4–6 in) in diameter, and greyish-brown in colour. The outer skin is leathery, about 1 millimetre (1⁄16 in) thick, and covered in rust-coloured lenticels.
TheEncyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911) calls the fruit "perhaps the finest of all [those] called nuts. The kernel is large, soft, and even sweeter than the almond, which it somewhat resembles in taste."[1]
Pulp of the mesocarp is oily and sticky, holding 1–4 hard, woody, warty stones, with tasty, reniformendocarp.
Caryocar nuciferum is illustrated and discussed in detail inCurtis's Botanical Magazine volume 54 (1827), and figured onplates 2727 and 2728 using material sent from the island ofSaint Vincent byLansdown Guilding.
It is also known aspekea-nut, or – like all other species ofCaryocar with edible nuts – "souari-nut" or "sawarri-nut".
The species is native toCosta Rica,Panama, northernBrazil,Colombia,Guyana, andVenezuela.
The endocarp is eaten raw or roasted, and produces a nondryingedible oil.[citation needed] The wood is durable and used forboat building. The correctly expressed oil of its nuts produces an effective healing balm.
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