Common Name:

General Information

Astrocaryum chonta is an evergreen, single-stemmed palm with a stem up to 10 metres tall and 18-27cm in diameter. It produces a crown of usually 8 - 12 spiny leaves that can be up to 12 metres long including the petiole[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food. The fruit is occasionally sold in local markets[]. This presumably refers to the unripe fruits being sold for use as a drink[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

S. America - Bolivia, Peru

Habitat

Forming dense populations in forests on periodically flooded alluvial soils[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	8.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

The liquid endosperm of the unripe fruit is drunk[].
The brown, obovate to oblong fruit is 39 - 65mm long and 22 - 27mm wide with a thin, fibrous mesocarp and a single large seed[].

The palm heart (the inner core and growing bud of the plant) is harvested from various species in this genus[]. It provides a crispy food, rich in nutrients, that can be eaten raw or cooked. Harvesting the heart will lead to the death of the plant, however, since it is unable to produce new shoots[]..

We have no specific information for this species, but the fruits and seeds of various species are reported to be used for oil production in the Amazon region. Existing analyses of fruit fat content show a relatively homogeneous composition among species, with around 20% of fat content in the mesocarp, mostly composed of oleic and palmitic acids, and 20-35% of fat content in the endosperm, with a predominance of lauric acid[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

The hard endocarp of various Amazonian species is commonly used to make beads and ornaments for necklaces[]

Propagation

Seed -

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