Oenocarpus bataua
| Oenocarpus bataua | |
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| Species: | O. bacaba
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| Oenocarpus bataua | |
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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].
Distribution and habitat
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]
Description
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 [leaflet]]s 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]
Uses
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.
Synonyms
- Oenocarpus batawa Wallace (1853), orth. var.
- Jessenia polycarpa H.Karst. (1857).
- Jessenia oligocarpa Griseb. & H.Wendl. ex Griseb. (1864)
- Jessenia repanda Engl. (1865).
- Jessenia bataua (Mart.) Burret (1928).
- Jessenia weberbaueri Burret (1929).[3]
References
- ^ Martius, Carl von. 1823. Historia Naturalis Palmarum II: 23. Lipsiae (Leipzig): T.O. Weigel.
- ^ a b c Vallejo Rendón, Darío 2002. "Oenocarpus bataua, seje"; Colombia Amazónica, separata especies promisorias 1. Corporación Colombiana para la Amazonia –Araracuara- COA.
- ^ a b "Oenocarpus bataua var. bataua". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|formate=(help); Unknown parameter|fechaacceso=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d Galeano, Gloria 1991. Las palmas de la región del Araracuara. Bogotá: TOPEMBOS - Universidad Nacional. Segunda edición, 1992, p.p. 146-148.
- ^ La Rotta, Constanza 1990. Especies utilizadas por la Comunidad Miraña: 296-297. Bogotá: WWF - FEN.