This name is not universally accepted. The plant's origins are uncertain and some botanists believe it is either an inter-generic hybrid, involving the genera Orbignya, Attalea, and Maximiliana; or it is best dealt with in the genus Ynesa[].

Common Name:

General Information

Attalea colenda is a single-stemmed, evergreen palm growing up to 30 metres or more tall. The unbranched stem can be 30 - 50cm in diameter; it has numerous adventitious roots at the base; and is topped by a crown of 15 - 25 large leaves that can each be up to 8.5 metres long[, ].
The plant produces huge inflorescences, making it commercially economic to gather them from the wild for large-scale oil extraction[]. The oil-rich seeds were previously an important export item from Ecuador to Colombia and the United States; but now the African oil palm is much more important and is grown on a large commercial scale[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

S. America - Ecuador, Colombia.

Habitat

Lowland rain forest or deciduous forest, especially common in disturbed or cleared areas, at elevations up to 900 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	25.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Each tree produces one to four infructescences per year. Based on the oil content, it is estimated that 100 trees per hectare could produce 10 to 27 tonnes of seeds, or between 5 and 13 tonnes of oil per hectare per year[].

Edible Uses

An oil extracted from the seed is used for cooking[]. The infructescences of this species are unusually large and heavy, with some of them weighing more than 100 kilos; an assay of the individual seeds showed 51.74% oil and 4.28% water[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

A long fibre with commercial value can be obtained from the leaf petiole margins[].

Propagation

Seed -

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