| Oenocarpus bataua | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Angiospermae |
| Class: | Liliopsida |
| Subclass: | Commelinidae |
| Order: | Arecales |
| Family: | Arecaceae |
| Tribe: | Areceae |
| Subtribe: | Euterpeinae |
| Genus: | Oenocarpus |
| Species: | O.
bacaba |
| Binomial name | |
| Oenocarpus bataua Mart. 1823[1] |
|
| Varieties | |
|
O. b. var. bataua (Mart.) Burret |
|
O patawa, sehe or mingucha (Oenocarpus bataua ou Jessenia bataua) is a palm tree native to the Amazonia, that produce eatable fruits rich in high quality oil[2].
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It is proper of the tropical rainforest and abundant in the wet zones with altitude of lower rank than 1000 m, from Panamá to South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Guyanas, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.[3]
Its stem is solitary, erect, 10-25 m hight and 2-3 dm diameter, smooth, ring-shaped. It has 10-16 leaves terminals, petiole 10-50 cm, rachis 3–7 m long; with leaflets up till 2 m long and 15 cm breadth, approximately 100 to each side, placed in the same plain.[4]
Blossom 1–2 m long m, with about 300 rachilas up till 1,3 m length. Yellow flowers with sepals 2 mm and petals 7 mm long.[4]
Traditionally the aboriginals have collected the fruit and mature it in tepid water in order to prepare drunks and also to extract oil[4]: its drupes, contains 8-10 % oil. The fresh meolo is eatable too. Besides, in these palm grow eatable larvas of Rhynchophorus.[5]
The oil is used by traditional medicine to mitigate cough and bronchitis[2] and to fortify the hair.
The rachis have been used to manufacture arrows and the leaves to make baskets ant construct provisional housings.[4]
In the future, this palm could be industrialized for oil production[2], because its quality and, its adaptation in poor soils and its abundant production of fruits.
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