Eden

Penang Botanic Gardens Plant Collection

Euterpe edulis Mart. (ARECACEAE)

Posted at — Nov 13, 2019
Assai Palm, Palmito

Description

Mostly solitary but can be clustering, feather-leafed palm to 9 m tall, c. 15 cm diameter. Crown shaft olive green to deep green with suffusion of orange or red. Leaves c. 3 m long, with stiff rachises and regularly spaced drooping leaflets. Inflorescences consist of many thin branches, growing beneath the crown shaft. Flowers tiny, whitish. Fruits globose, 13 mm across, dark purple to black when mature.


Ecology

Native in Atlantic coastal forest.

Distribution

Eastern Brazil to south-eastern Paraguay and north-eastern Argentina.

Uses

The palm cabbage is edible and often harvested, fruits are also edible. The unopened inflorescence is also edible.