Common Name: Castanha de Galinha

General Information

Castanha de galinha is an evergreen tree with an elongated, pyramidal crown; it can grow 4 - 30 metres or more tall. The erect bole can be 10 - 40cm in diameter[, , ].
Its seeds are commonly gathered from the wild for food and the plant is often cultivated in home gardens within its native range[, ]. It is commonly left standing when areas of the rainforest are opened up for swidden farming[]. The tree is considered worthy of cultivation and some research is being carried out into the possibility of growing it as a timber tree with the added benefit of also providing edible seeds[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

S. America - Brazil in Amazonia and Para.

Habitat

Found in heavy, infertile, clay oxisols of lowland rainforests and also occurring in periodically inundated, low lying areas[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	20.00 m
Growth Rate	Medium
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Semi-cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the tropical lowlands.
Succeeds in full sun and in dappled shade[]. Plants are adapted to growing in heavy, infertile, clay oxisols of lowland rainforests[]. They are tolerant of periodically inundated soils[].
Early growth is rapid, but slows later. Trees can attain a height of 2 - 3 metres when 4 - 5 years old, at which time they are often producing their first flowers[].
Fallen mature fruits must be quickly harvested before they can germinate, rot or be removed by small rodents and wild pigs[].
Trees around 20 years old and 7 metres high yield over 1,000 nuts per year, whilst mature trees will yield over 100 kg[]. Individual kernels weigh 4 - 7 g and represent around 30% of the weight of the whole nut[].

Edible Uses

The nut-like seeds are eaten raw or cooked[, , ]. The seed has a pleasant flavour which changes over time. It resembles Brazil nuts and pomegranate pips when fresh, becoming more Brazil nut-like after a short storage, tasting more date-like after a few weeks if stored moist or months if stored dry, but eventually becoming rancid[]. The seed is usually roasted[]. A favoured way of eating them is to pound them then mix them with sugar and cassava flour[].
The seed has a white to light green kernel, 3 cm long, 2 cm wide[]. Dry nuts can be stored for several months but rapidly deteriorate under moist conditions and high temperatures[].

The seeds contain up to 75% of a light greenish-yellow semi-drying oil that quickly turns rancid[]. It is used in cooking[].
The seed cake that remains after oil extraction is slightly sweet and is used in local pastries[].

Medicinal

The bark and pericarp extracts are used in local medicine[].

Other Uses

The oil from the seed is used for soap-making[].

A rough fibre is obtained from the bark[].

The wood is medium-textured, irregular-grained, very heavy, hard, very strong and difficult to work. A very durable wood, it is very resistant to wood-eating organisms. It is used for general construction, carpentry, roofing tiles, railway sleepers, posts etc[, ].

Propagation

Seeds germinate within weeks of falling from the tree onto moist ground[]. Viability is rapidly lost and seeds do not store easily[]. Sow the seeds in individual containers in a semi-shaded position[]. Germination rates are usually low, and the seed can be slow to sprout[].

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