| Attalea maripa | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Arecales |
| Family: | Arecaceae |
| Genus: | Attalea |
| Species: | A. maripa |
| Binomial name | |
| Attalea maripa | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
Palma maripaAubl. | |
Attalea maripa, commonly calledmaripa palm[3] is apalm native to tropicalSouth America andTrinidad and Tobago. It grows up 35 m (115 ft) tall and can haveleaves orfronds 10–12 m (33–39 ft) long. This plant has a yellowediblefruit which isoblong ovoid andcream. An edible oil can be extracted from the pulp of the fruit and from the kernel of the seed.
Attalea maripa is a large palm that grows from 3.5–20 m (11–66 ft) tall. Stems range from 20–33 cm (8–13 in) in diameter, occasionally reaching up to 100 cm (39.5 in). Trees have 10 to 22 leaves with longpetioles.[4] Fruit are large and brown[4] or yellow, 5–6.5 cm (2.0–2.6 in)[5] with 2 or 3 seeds which are 4–6 cm (1.5–2.5 in) long and 2.5–3 cm (0.98–1.18 in) in diameter[4] They are borne ininfructescences which can contain several hundred to over 2000 fruit.[5]
The species was first described byFrenchbotanistJean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet in 1775 in hisHistoire des plantes de la Guiane Francoise asPalma maripa. German botanistCarl Friedrich Philipp von Martius transferred it to the genusAttalea in 1844.Hermann Wendland moved it to the genusScheelea in 1878, whileCarl Georg Oscar Drude moved it toMaximiliana.Otto Kuntze moved it to the genusEnglerophoenix in 1891.[2]Orator F. Cook placed it in its own genus in 1940, which he namedEthnora in recognition of Aublet's as a pioneer of the anti-slavery movement.[6] Recent work has favoured maintaining all Attaleinae in a single genus,Attalea.[7]
| Common names ofAttalea maripa | |
| Common name | Usage |
|---|---|
| Anajá | Brazil[4] |
| Cocorite | Trinidad and Tobago[8] |
| Cucurito | Venezuela[4] |
| Cusi | Bolivia[4] |
| Gaibamo (fruit) | Huaroni (Ecuador)[9] |
| Gaibawe (adult) | Huaroni[9] |
| Güichire | Colombia[4] |
| Inajá | Brazil[10] |
| Inajai | Brazil[4] |
| Inayo | Ecuador[4] |
| Inayuga | Peru[4] |
| Kukarit | Guyana[4] |
| Maripa | French Guiana, Suriname[4] |
| Namba (juvenile plant) | Huaroni[9] |
| Wencayapa (juvenile plant) | Huaroni[9] |
| Rikre | Kakapó (Brazil)[11] |
Attalea maripa ranges from Trinidad and Tobago in the north toBolivia in the south. It is present inColombia,Venezuela,Guyana,Suriname,French Guiana,Ecuador,Peru andBrazil.[2] It is found in lowland forests and disturbed areas, on soils that are not usually flooded.[4]
The fruit ofA. maripa are consumed by a variety of mammals. On Maracá Island,Roraima, in theBrazilian Amazon, fruit were consumed bytapirs,collared peccaries, deer and primates. Rodents, includingagoutis, fed upon the fruit and, as the fruit availability declined, they fed on the seeds. They also cached seeds for later consumption. Most species consume the pulp and spit out intact seeds within a short distance of the parent tree. Tapirs swallow the entire fruit and defaecate intact seeds further away from parent trees. Most of the seeds that were not removed from the vicinity of the parent trees were killed by larvae of thebean weevil (Bruchid beetle)Pachymerus cardo. Beetle larvae killed 77% of seeds that were not dispersed away from the parent trees, but less than 1% of seeds that were dispersed to tapir latrines.[5]
InTrinidad,A. maripa is a characteristic species in the savannas that develop when forests are converted to grasslands through repeated fires. British foresterJ. S. Beard termed these savannas "Cocorite Savannas" (after the local name forA. maripa).[8]
CarbonisedAttalea maripa seeds have been found in archaeological sites in Colombia dating back to 9000BP.[12] TheHuaorani ofAmazonian Ecuador use themesocarps for food. They use thepetiole andleaf rachis to makeblowgun darts and sleeping mats, the petioles for torches, thepinnae for kindling and the stems for firewood.[9] 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.[11] The leaves are also used forthatching.[4]
Edible oil can be extracted from the mesocarp andkernel ofA. maripa.Oleic acid is the predominantfatty acid in oil extracted from the mesocarp, whilelauric acid predominates in the kernel. About half of the fatty acids in the mesocarp oil aresaturated and halfunsaturated. Thetocopherol content of the mesocarp oil was average (in comparison to other edible oils) while the kernel oil was low in tocopherols.[10]
Media related toAttalea maripa at Wikimedia Commons
Data related toAttalea maripa at Wikispecies
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