Common Name: Peach Palm

General Information

Bactris gasipaes is a multi-stemmed, evergreen, feather palm with spiny stems that can grow up to 20 metres tall. The plant usually forms a clump of stems from suckers at the base; each unbranched stem being topped by a crown of large leaves that are up to 3 metres long. The stems can be 10 - 30cm in diameter[, , ].
Peach palm is widely cultivated in South America for its edible fruit[] and has been introduced to Asia, though it has not become popular there[]. It grows wild in massive stands in northwest S. America, where it fruits prolifically and provides food for millions of people[]. It has great potential as a food crop for tropical areas[], where it is also grown for its ornamental value[].

Known Hazards

The stems are usually heavily armed with rings of very sharp, black spines about 5 cm long[].

Botanical References

Range

Central and northern S. America.

Habitat

Not known in a truly wild location[, ]. Plants are found in disturbed natural ecosystems, principally along riverbeds and primary forest gaps[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	15.00 m
Growth Rate	Fast
Pollinators	Insects, Wind
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Plants succeed in moist tropical climates with heavy rainfall and poor soils[]. They grow in lowland areas below 800 metres, where temperatures never fall below 10°c, the average annual rainfall is 1,500mm or more and the driest month has 25mm or more rain[, ]. They can withstand relatively hot dry seasons of 3 - 4 months[].
Requires a fertile, moist, but well-drained soil, a humid atmosphere and some protection from strong sun[]. Seedlings develop very slowly under forest shade conditions, and mature plants require full sunlight for optimal production of flowers, fruits and offshoots[]. Plants are most productive when grown on relatively deep, fertile, well-drained soils, clay soils, and highly eroded laterites with 50% aluminium-saturated, acid soils[]. Prefers a pH in the range 5 - 6.5, tolerating 4 - 7.5[].
The spiny stem of the tree grows rapidly in height, attaining 15 - 20 metres in just 10 years[].
Plants begin flowering when 3 - 5 years old, and can produce two fruit crops a year for the next 50 - 75 years[, ].
Fruit yields may be as high as 10 - 30 tonnes/ha, but are often only about 2 - 3 tonnes/ha[]. Yields of 50 - 100 kilos per trunk per year are not unusual[].
For palm hearts the yield ranges from 4,000 - 10,000 hearts/ha per year[].
Plants sometimes produce just a solitary trunk, at other times they can have several trunks[].
Plants produce rings of needle-like spines 5cm long[]. This can make harvesting the fruit and buds rather unpleasant. There is at least one named form, called 'Spineless', that is entirely free of these spines[]. There are other forms that have seedless fruits[, ].
A shallow-rooted plant[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - cooked[]. An acquired taste, mealy and nutty in flavour[]. The flavour is variable, ranging from bland to strong[]. Inedible raw, it is boiled in salt water for 30 - 60 minutes, when it becomes floury-textured, oily and pleasant tasting with good nutritious qualities[, ]. The fruit is always cooked, because of the presence of an alkaloid, pupunhadine[]. The fruit is highly nutritious, being very rich in carbohydrate and protein[]. The fruits are also ground into a flour for baking bread, cakes etc[]. The ovoid fruit is about 6cm long[].
The fruit palm is an energy-rich source of carbohydrates and oil; the pulp contains all the essential amino acids and is an excellent source of quality protein[]. The mesocarp is rich in beta-carotene[]. It is regarded as probably the most nutritionally balanced of tropical fruits; has twice the protein content of the banana and can produce more carbohydrate per ha than maize[].

An edible oil is obtained from the seed[]. It is called oil of macanilla[].
The mesocarp oil has a relatively high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, notably oleic acid, and contains no cholesterol[]. It is used for cooking[].

Seed - eaten raw or made into a meal to flavour drinks[]. Consumed as nuts[].

A salt substitute is made by cooking the spadix[]. The cooked male flowers are used as a condiment[].

The apical bud is cooked and eaten as a vegetable[, ]. A delicacy, in some areas it is eaten as a salad[]. Fresh, dried and canned palmito is being marketed for use in salads, soups and fillings and as roasted chips[]. Eating the bud effectively kills the trunk since it is unable to produce side shoots[]. Some plants in this species form multi-trunks and so harvesting the apical bud will only kill one stem, not the plant[].

Medicinal

The oil from the seeds is used as a rub to ease rheumatic pains[].

Other Uses

An oil is obtained from the seed. This species may turn out to be a better economic option than most other American oil palms. Oil levels of up to 62% of the dry weight have been reported, and there are reports that a large pot of boiling fruit can produce 2-3 kg of oil[]. The oil separates easily when the fruits are cooked. As with other palms, it is a potential source of lauric oils. The seed is rich in saturated fatty acids, and could be used to manufacture cosmetics and soap[].

The leaves yield thatch for houses and basket materials[].

The spines of the plant are used in tattooing[]. (Probably as needles[].)

The leaves provide a green dye for colouring fabrics[].

The roots provide a vermicide[].

The whole plant, including the leaf and stem parts, produces a valuable fibre for manufacturing paper[]. Cellulose may be produced for cellophane paper and rayon[].

Wood - exceptionally hard and strong, it has many uses[]. Used in construction[]. It is a durable material for bows, arrows, fishing poles, harpoons and carvings[]. The Amerindians use the wood for flooring and panelling their houses and also fashion long spines into needles[]. In rural Amazonia, the stem is valued for parquet, furniture, carvings and home construction[].

Propagation

Seed - pre-soak for 24 hours in warm water and sow in containers. Germination takes 2 months or more[]. The seed has a limited viability and needs to be sown as fresh as possible[].
Seedlings require about 6 - 9 months in the nursery; planting out should be done when the soil is humid and the potential evapotranspiration rate is low[].
Seeds are recalcitrant. They rapidly lose viability when dried and should not be exposed to direct sunlight during germination[]. Fresh seed has 45-50% mc, and if this falls below 38-40%, germination is reduced[]. Seed is rarely formed in this species[].
Division of suckers from a mature palm after it has produced four stems[]. Suckers should have produced roots and be 7 to 8 cm in diameter at the base and 1 to 1. 5 metres high[].

Add a Comment:

If you have any useful information about this plant, please leave a comment. Comments have to be approved before they are shown here.

Name:

Email(Private):

Message:

Captcha: what is half of 100?