Carnauba palm
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Carnauba palm ( Copernicia prunifera ) |
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The carnauba palm ( Copernicia prunifera ) is a South American palm species from the group of wax palms . Carnauba wax is obtained from the wax of its leaves .
features
The grayish trunk of adult palm trees reaches a height of 15 m, rarely 10 m in culture. The diameter is 25 cm. The spiral-arranged, button-like leaf base remains are often retained in the lower part of the trunk. The leaf crown is full and round. It is 5 m high and wide. The fan-shaped leaves are 1.5 m wide and circular. The almost 1 m long petiole is reinforced with strong teeth. The blade is divided up to half into many linear, stiff segments. The leaves are deep yellow-green to blue-green; both sides are coated with wax, the underside thicker.
The inflorescence is a 2 m long, narrow panicle that extends well beyond the leaf crown. The flowers are yellowish brown and hermaphrodite. The ovoid , single-core, bitter berry fruits are 2.5 cm thick, green when young and blue-violet to black when ripe.
The palm trees can live up to 200 years.
distribution
The carnauba palm is endemic to northeastern Brazil . It grows in low-lying areas influenced by the monsoons , especially along rivers and lakes.
use
The wax from the leaves is harvested. The palm is rarely cultivated. Six to eight leaves are cut off in the dry season. This can best be done two, at most three times a year, the interval between them should be 80 days, if this is done more often, the plant will be damaged. The leaves are dried on mats, which loosens the wax flakes. The wax is separated from the leaves by tapping and scraping. About 5 to 8 g of wax are obtained per leaf, which results in 120 to 160 g per tree and year.
The leaves can be used for weaving and roofing, the leaf fibers (Bagana, Palha) and wood are also used. The pulp from the master marrow is extracted and dried to carnauba flour to produce, which is widely used by the locals. Edible oil can be obtained from the seeds, which are also edible. The fruits can be used as cattle feed or can also be made into jelly . When roasted, the fruits are ground and brewed and used as a coffee substitute. The palm hearts can be eaten as a vegetable.
literature
- Robert Lee Riffle, Paul Craft: An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. 4th edition, Timber Press, Portland 2007, ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6 , p. 314.
Web links
- A – Z of useful plants: Canauba palm at Biologie Uni-Hamburg ( Memento from October 9, 2018 in the Internet Archive ).
- Copernicia prunifera from Useful Tropical Plants, accessed April 2, 2018.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c James A. Duke, Judith L. duCellier: CRC handbook of alternative cash crops. CRC Press, Boca Raton 1993, ISBN 978-0-8493-3620-1 , pp. 197 f.
- ^ Wolfgang Franke: Nutzpflanzenkunde. Usable crops of temperate latitudes, subtropics and tropics. 4th edition, Thieme, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 978-3-13-530404-5 , p. 439.