Common Name: Jauari

General Information

Astrocaryum jauari is a spiny, clump-forming evergreen palm tree, usually with 4 - 6 or more unbranched stems that can be 5 - 20 metres tall. The stems can be 9 - 30cm in diameter and are topped by a crown of 6 - 15, stiffly erect leaves that can each be 4 - 4 metres long including the petiole[, , ].
The tree is extensively used by local people, providing food, materials for house building, weaving etc, as well as an oil from the seed[, ]. Some attempts have been made in Brazil to exploit Astrocaryum jauari for palm heart canning[] There is a commercial palm heart canning business on the River Negro in Brazil where this species is extremely abundant[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

S. America - northern Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guyanas.

Habitat

Flooded river margins and floodplains of the Amazonian rainforest, where the land can be submerged for up to 300 days per year[]. It often forms large colonies[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	15.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the moist, lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 230 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 24 - 28°c, but can tolerate 20 - 32°c[]. It can be killed by temperatures of 8°c or lower[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,800 - 2,300mm, but tolerates 1,500 - 2,600mm[].
Requires a shady, moist position that can be inundated for much of the year[]. In the wild, it can only compete successfully in seasonally flooded forests, where it has been found in areas flooded from 30 - 240 days per year[]. Prefers a pH in the range 4.5 - 5.5, tolerating 3.2 - 7[].
Young plants are tolerant of being submerged for up to 300 days per year[].
Fruiting occurs at the height of the wet season and the seeds are spread by fish (who eat the fruit)[]. Thus inundation may improve germination[].

Edible Uses

The palm heart (the inner core and growing bud of the plant) is harvested[]. 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 stem it was harvested from, though in multi-stemmed plants such as this the rest of the plant will continue to grow and often produce new stems.

An oil is obtained from the kernels[]. This report does not say that the oil is edible but, in general, any oils extracted from palm species are unlikely not to be edible[].
The fruits and seeds of various species in this genus are reported to be used for oil production in the Amazon region[]. Existing analyses of fruit fat content show a relatively homogeneous composition among the different species, with around. 20% of fat content in the mesocarp, mostly composed of oleic and palm itic acids, and 20 - 35% of fat content in the endosperm, with a predominance of lauric acid[].

Fruit[]. The fleshy mesocarp is more or less sweet and edible[]. The yellow to orange, ovoid fruit is 30 - 40mm long and 25 - 30mm wide, containing a single, large seed[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

An oil is obtained from the kernels[].

The leaves and leaf stems are woven into a range of items such as baskets[, , ].
Fibre extracted from the leaflets is used to make bags, hammocks and nets[]

The seeds are used for making necklaces[]. The endocarp (seed shell)) is the raw material for the manufacture of rings, earrings and necklaces[]

The trunks of the trees are rot resistant and are used locally for making houses[, , ].

Propagation

Seed -

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