Attalea maripa

[Walter John]

I'm thinking about it but would like to know more about the palm in question.

[Kris]

Gentlemen

Any visuals...?

thanks & Love,

Kris

[amazondk]

Wal,

This is a very common palm around my part of Amazonia. It grows to be an emergent tree in the forest and is a common understory feature when smaller. It is normally found on pasture land that has been cleared of forest and forms thick groves if not burned again with frequency. I have a mature specimen at my country place. I have only found one other small one so far on the land, which is sort of unusual as there are so many in the area.

The tree is in a very prominent place and adds a lot to the landscape. The large palm in the foreground.

The trunk was damaged years ago by fire, but the tree is still doing well.

I am very glad that this mature tree was on the land. Off to the right I intend on planting a few other species of Attaleas.

[amazondk]

Here are a few old pictures that I posted from a town down the Amazon River on a lot my partner owns.

[Kai]

When on vacation in in Surinam, I could't stop eating the sweet fruits. I think they are delicious!

I took lots of seeds with me and quite a few germinated. Now I have some seedlings here and I try to grow them as potted houseplants. For now this goes really well, but they are stil very small of course.

The seeds even sprout from more then one of their 3 pores (eyes)

[amazondk]

Kai,

You do have an interesting bunch of seeds for someone in Holland. By the way no one eats the fruit from this palm here. I will have to give it a try.

dk

[Walter John]

Thanks Don, looks like I could get away with it in suburbia. It looks great, and nowhere near as big as other more well known Attaleas.

[kelen]

I brought some Attalea maripa seeds from Pará, There are millions these palm there! This palm benefits when put fire in the bush, therefore its seed readily germinates.

My seeds still don't germinated. I don't know if this palm is hardy to cold, like 9b zone. Do somebody know?

[Kai]

Kai,

You do have an interesting bunch of seeds for someone in Holland. By the way no one eats the fruit from this palm here. I will have to give it a try.

dk

Hi Don,

I'm totally crazy about any palm that produces seeds with 3 eyes. I don't know why, haha!

I hope we are talking about the same palm and you don't try to eat poisonous fruits of some other palm, in Surinam they call the fruits maripa and the trees look very similar to the pictures above, so I guess it can't hurt. The fruit is sold in great numbers on marketplaces. Some people even crack the nuts and eat the contents, but that seems to me a lot of work for very little food tasting exactly the same as coconut flesh.

[Kai]

I brought some Attalea maripa seeds from Pará, There are millions these palm there! This palm benefits when put fire in the bush, therefore its seed readily germinates.

My seeds still don't germinated. I don't know if this palm is hardy to cold, like 9b zone. Do somebody know?

I think it's quite tropical, but I'm not sure about it's tolerance. It might also depend on the amount of time it gets exposed to cold.

[Kai]

Here's one I came across...