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Acrocomia aculeata

(Gru-Gru Palm, Macauba Palm, Macaw Palm)

Overview:

Fruits and sweet seeds edible, and 'Mocaya' oil similar to coconut oil from the fruits. Sago can be obtained from the stems (Burkill, 1835). Oil can be used for massaging or making soap. Young leaves can be eaten as a vegetatble. 'Coyol' palm wine is produced by tapping the stems in Costa Rica. A few days after drinking it, it is said you get drunk again if you stay for some time under the sun. Seeds are dispersed by cattle.

Taxonomy

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  • Kingdom: Plantae - Plants
    • Phylum: Tracheophyta - Vascular Plants
      • Class: Liliopsida - Monocotyledons
        • Order: Arecales
          • Family: Noctuoidea
            • Subfamily: Arecoideae
              • Tribe: Cocoeae
                • Genus: Acrocomia (ak-ro-KOH-mee-uh) Martius, Palm. Fam. 22. 1824, in C. F. P. von Martius et al., Hist. Nat. - Coyol, gru-gru [Greek akron, summit, and kome, hairs of the head, in reference to the high crown of leaves; akrokomos, with leaves at the top, said especially of palms]
                  • Specific epithet: aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart.
                    • Botanical name: Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart.

Notes:

Name Status: Accepted Name. Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 05-Apr-2001

Place of publication: Hist. nat. palm. 3:286. 1845

Name verified on 17-Apr-2008 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 17-Apr-2008

Physical Description

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Genus Acrocomia:

Stems solitary, robust, armed, covered with persistent leaf bases or bare. Leaves: petioles armed with needlelike prickles; petiole margins unarmed; blade pinnate, armed with prickles; plication reduplicate; segments regularly arranged, apices acute. Inflorescences axillary within crown of leaves, paniculate, arching, becoming pendulous in fruit, with 1 order of branching; prophyll short; peduncular bract woody, prickly, splitting abaxially, curling downward; rachis armed with prickles. Flowers unisexual, sessile, borne in triads of 1 pistillate flower flanked by 2 staminate flowers, staminate flowers borne singly along distal portions of rachillae. Staminate flowers: sepals 3, free; petals 3, valvate, leathery, basally connate, leathery; stamens 6, free; anthers rectangular; pistillode with 3 minute lobes. Pistillate flowers: sepals 3, imbricate, free; petals 3, imbricate, basally connate or nearly free; staminodes well -developed, bearing short, sterile anthers; pistils 1, large, tomentose; ovules 3; styles indistinct; stigmas 3. Fruits drupes, globose; exocarp brownish green, thin, pubescent near fruit apex [bristly]; mesocarp fleshy, oily; endocarp thick, bony, with 3 equatorial germination pores. Seeds irregular; endosperm homogeneous; embryo lateral; eophyll undivided [2-cleft], linear-lanceolate. nx = 15.

Species 2--30: Mexico, West Indies, Central America, and South America.

Although as many as 30 species of Acrocomia have been described, a recent study (A. Henderson et al. 1995) recognized only two, A. aculeata (Jacquin) Loddiges (including A. totai Martius) and A. hassleri (Barbosa Rodrigues) W. J. Hahn. I maintain A. aculeata and A. totai as two separate species, both of which are cultivated in Florida, where the latter species is naturalized. A general comparison of these two species was made by B. Peterson (1991) in which he noted that the eophyll of A. aculeata is 2-cleft and that of A. totai is undivided. He also found several subtle differences between these species when mature. For example, the trunk spines of A. totai are ca. 12--13 cm and those of A. aculeata are ca. 6--10 cm. Clearly, additional study is warranted to resolve the prickly systematic problems in this genus.[1]

Species Acrocomia aculeata:

10-20m palm, up to 50cm diam., broader towards the crown (carrot shaped) with pinnate leaves of 50-60 pairs leaflets, usually with clusters of long flat prickles c 4cm long. Leaves also armed with prickles. Fruit 3-5cm diam. x c/ 3cm tall, smooth or slightly scaly, with 3cm nut within.

Habit: Evergreen.

Flowers: Bloom Period: June. • Flower Color: cream, pale yellow, tan

Images:

Distribution

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Range and Population

Native: .

Growth

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Culture: Space 15-20' apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Acrocomia:

There are approximately 44 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus: A. aculeata (Gru-Gru Palm) · A. antiguana · A. antioquensis · A. antioquiensis · A. armentalis · A. belizensis · A. christopherensis · A. chunta · A. crispa · A. erioacantha · A. erisacantha · A. fusiformis · A. glaucophylla · A. grenadana · A. guianensis · A. hassleri · A. horrida · A. hospes · A. ierensis · A. intumescens · A. karukerana · A. lasiospatha · A. media (Grugru Palm) · A. mexicana · A. microcarpa · A. minor · A. mokayayba · A. odorata · A. panamensis · A. pilosa · A. quisqueyana · A. sclerocarpa · A. sp. · A. sphaerocarpa · A. spinosa · A. subinermis · A. tenuifrons · A. totai (Grugru Palm) · A. ulei · A. ventricosa · A. viegasii · A. vinifera (Coyol Palm) · A. wallaceana · A. zapotecis

Bibliography

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  • Glassman, S. F. 1972. Revis. Index Amer. Palms.
  • Govaerts, R. & J. Dransfield. 2005. World checklist of palms. (L Palms)
  • Hammel, B. E. et al., eds. 2003–. Manual de plantas de Costa Rica. (Man CostaR)
  • Henderson, A. 1995. The palms of the Amazon. (Palms Amazon)
  • Henderson, A. et al. 1995. Field guide to the palms of the Americas. (Palms Amer)
  • Howard, R. 1974–1989. Flora of the lesser Antilles. (F LAnt)
  • IPGRI. New World Fruits Database - on-line resource. (New World Fruits)
  • Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third. (Hortus 3)
  • Moore, H. E., Jr. 1963. An annotated checklist of cultivated palms. Principes 7:124.
  • Peterson, B. 1991. A comparison of some central Florida acrocomias. Centr. Florida Palm Bull. 11(1): 11--12.
  • Peterson, B. 1991b. Acrocomia naturalized in central Florida. Principes 35: 110--111.
  • Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) - on-line resource. (Pl Names)
  • Rehm, S. & G. Espig. 1991. The cultivated plants of the tropics and subtropics. (CultTropS)
  • Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. (Dict Rehm)
  • Steyermark, J. A. et al., eds. 1995–. Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana. (F VenGuay)
  • Zamora, N.; González J. and Poveda, L. J. (en prep. ). 1999. Arboles y Arbustos del Bosque Seco de Costa Rica. Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Costa Rica.

More Info

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Notes

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Contributors:

  • Bisby FA, Roskov YR, Orrell TM, Nicolson D, Paglinawan LE, Bailly N, Kirk PM, Bourgoin T, van Hertum J, eds (2008). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist Taxonomic Classification. CD-ROM; Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
  • Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 01, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 8 providers.
  • USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL (May 05, 2008)
  • World Checklist of Selected Plant Families

Data Sources:

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 01, 2008:

Identifiers:

Footnotes:

  1. "Acrocomia". in Flora of North America Vol. 22 Page 122, 123. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.

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Last Revised: May 11, 2008