Maripa palm facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Maripa palm
Scientific classification
Genus:	Attalea
Species:	maripa

Attalea maripa - MHNT

The Attalea maripa, often called the maripa palm, is a tall palm tree. It grows naturally in warm, tropical parts of South America and also in Trinidad and Tobago. These impressive trees can reach up to 35 meters (about 115 feet) tall. Their large leaves, also known as fronds, can be 10 to 12 meters (about 33 to 39 feet) long.

The maripa palm produces a yellow, edible fruit. This fruit is shaped like an oblong egg and has a creamy color inside. People can extract an edible oil from the soft part of the fruit and also from the seed inside.

What Does the Maripa Palm Look Like?

The Attalea maripa is a very large palm tree. It typically grows between 3.5 and 20 meters (11 to 66 feet) tall. Sometimes, it can even reach up to 35 meters! The main stem, or trunk, is usually 20 to 33 centimeters (8 to 13 inches) wide. Some trunks can grow as wide as 100 centimeters (about 39 inches).

Each maripa palm tree has 10 to 22 large leaves. These leaves have long stalks called petioles. The fruits are quite big and can be brown or yellow. They are about 5 to 6.5 centimeters (2 to 2.5 inches) long. Each fruit usually contains 2 or 3 seeds. These seeds are about 4 to 6 centimeters (1.5 to 2.5 inches) long and 2.5 to 3 centimeters (1 to 1.2 inches) wide. The fruits grow in large clusters called infructescences. One cluster can hold hundreds, or even over 2000, fruits!

Naming the Maripa Palm

The maripa palm has had a few different scientific names over time. A French botanist named Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet first described the species in 1775. He called it Palma maripa. Later, in 1844, a German botanist named Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius moved it to the genus Attalea.

Over the years, other botanists placed it in different groups like Scheelea, Maximiliana, and Englerophoenix. An American botanist, Orator F. Cook, even created a special genus for it called Ethnora in 1940. He did this to honor Aublet, who was a pioneer in the anti-slavery movement. Today, most scientists agree that all these related palms belong in one large group, the genus Attalea.

Different Names for the Maripa Palm

People in different regions have their own names for the Attalea maripa palm. Here are some of its common names:

Where Does the Maripa Palm Grow?

The maripa palm grows across a wide area in South America. You can find it from Trinidad and Tobago in the north all the way down to Bolivia in the south. It also grows in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil.

These palms usually live in lowland forests. They can also be found in areas where the forest has been disturbed, like places where trees have been cut down. They prefer soils that do not get flooded often.

Maripa Palm in Nature

The fruits of the Attalea maripa are a popular food source for many animals. In the Brazilian Amazon, animals like tapirs, collared peccaries, deer, and monkeys eat the fruit. Rodents, such as agoutis, also enjoy the fruit. When there are fewer fruits available, these rodents will start eating the seeds. They also bury seeds to eat later.

Most animals eat the soft pulp of the fruit and then spit out the seeds. These seeds usually land close to the parent tree. However, tapirs swallow the whole fruit. They then spread the intact seeds far away from the parent trees when they go to the bathroom. This helps the palm trees grow in new places.

Sadly, many seeds that stay near the parent tree are destroyed. Tiny larvae of a beetle called the Pachymerus cardo eat them. These beetle larvae killed 77% of the seeds that were not moved away from the parent trees. But, less than 1% of the seeds that tapirs carried away were harmed.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the Attalea maripa is a common tree in savannas. These savannas are grasslands that form when forests are repeatedly burned. A British forester named John Stanley Beard even called these areas "Cocorite Savannas," after the local name for the maripa palm.

How People Use the Maripa Palm

People have used the Attalea maripa for a very long time. Scientists have found charred (burned) maripa palm seeds at old archaeological sites in Colombia. These seeds date back about 9000 years!

The Huaorani people in Amazonian Ecuador eat the fleshy part of the fruit. They also use parts of the palm to make useful items. For example, they use the leaf stalks (petioles) and the main stem of the leaf (rachis) to make darts for blowguns and sleeping mats. The petioles can also be used as torches. The smaller parts of the leaves (pinnae) are good for starting fires, and the stems are used as firewood.

The Kayapó people in Brazil also eat the fruit. They value the palm because it attracts wildlife, which is important for hunting. They even use the palm as a source of salt. The large leaves are also used for thatching roofs.

An edible oil can be made from both the soft part of the fruit and the seed inside. The oil from the fruit's soft part has a lot of oleic acid, which is a type of fatty acid. The oil from the seed has more lauric acid. About half of the fatty acids in the fruit oil are saturated, and half are unsaturated. The fruit oil has an average amount of tocopherols (which are like Vitamin E), but the seed oil has very few.

See also

In Spanish: Attalea maripa para niños