Common Name: Chonta Negra

General Information

Astrocaryum gratum is a spiny, evergreen palm producing a single, unbranched stem 3 - 10 metres tall and 17 - 20cm in diameter. The stem is topped by a crown of 8 - 12 leaves that can each be 7 metres long including the petiole[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

S. America - Bolivia, Peru

Habitat

Forests on sandy soils, gallery forests in periodically flooded savannahs, and in secondary vegetation; at elevations up to 500 metres[].

Properties

Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	7.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw[]. The fleshy mesocarp is sweet and edible[]. The orange, obovate fruit is around 39 - 67mm long and 27 - 39mm wide with a fleshy layer up to 12mm thick and a single, large seed[].
The liquid endosperm of the unripe fruit is drunk[[]].

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 side 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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