Acrocomia aculeata
illustration: Creative Commons
illustration: Creative Commons
oGrugru Palm, Macauba Palm, Cyol Palm, Macaw Palm,coco paraguayo [W]
Acrocomia aculeata is a species of palm native to tropical regions of the Americas, from southern Mexico and the Caribbean south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. Common names include Grugru Palm, Macauba Palm, Coyol Palm, and Macaw Palm; synonyms include A. lasiospatha, A. sclerocarpa, A. totai, and A. vinifera.
It grows up to 15-20 m tall, with a trunk up to 50 cm in diameter, characterized by numerous slender, black, viciously sharp 10 cm long spines jutting out from the trunk. The leaves are pinnate, 3-4 m long, with numerous slender, 50-100 cm long leaflets. Petioles of the leaves are also covered with spines. The flowers are small, produced on a large branched inflorescence 1.5 m long. The fruit is a yellowish-green drupe 2.5-5 cm in diameter. The inner fruit shell, also ... ...Read More
[3]
GENUS [A]Acrocomia
SUB-FAMILY [N]Arecoideae
TRIBE [N]Cocoseae
SUB-TRIBE [N]Bactridinae
PUBLICATION [A]
Miller's Dict. Gard.: 63 (1834)
BIOLOGY [C][3]
Distribution [C][3]
Brazil North, Venezuelan Antilles, Brazil Southeast, Brazil Northeast, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Panamá, Nicaragua, Leeward Is., Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad-Tobago, French Guiana, Windward Is., Brazil West-Central, Colombia,
USES [W]
The plants inhabit a wide variety of climates and situations; in Paraguay, for example, where it is ubiquitous, it is called the coco paraguayo (Paraguayan coconut), as it is much less common in the rest of the world. It has been suggested that grugru nuts, which come in mass numbers from each tree, can be used in the manufacture of biodiesel. The grugru nut, while very hard, can be sliced into thin circles to be sanded and worn as rings. The trunk of the palm can also be 'milked' to yield a fermented alcoholic beverage known as coyol wine.
SYNONYMS [C]
Acrocomia antiguana L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia antioquiensis Posada-Ar.
Acrocomia belizensis L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia christopherensis L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia chunta Covas & Ragonese
Acrocomia cubensis Lodd. ex H.Wendl.
Acrocomia erioacantha Barb.Rodr.
Acrocomia fusiformis (Sw.) Sweet
Acrocomia glaucophylla Drude
Acrocomia globosa (Gaertn.) Lodd. ex Mart.
Acrocomia grenadana L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia guianensis Lodd. ex G.Don
Acrocomia horrida Lodd. ex Mart.
Acrocomia hospes L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia ierensis L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia karukerana L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia lasiospatha Mart.
Acrocomia mexicana Karw. ex Mart.
Acrocomia microcarpa Barb.Rodr.
Acrocomia minor Lodd. ex G.Don
Acrocomia mokayayba Barb.Rodr.
Acrocomia odorata Barb.Rodr.
Acrocomia panamensis L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia pilosa León
Acrocomia quisqueyana L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia sclerocarpa Mart.
Acrocomia sclerocarpa var. wallaceana Drude
Acrocomia sphaerocarpa Desf.
Acrocomia spinosa (Mill.) H.E.Moore
Acrocomia subinermis León ex L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia tenuifrons Lodd. ex Mart.
Acrocomia ulei Dammer
Acrocomia viegasii L.H.Bailey
Acrocomia vinifera Oerst.
Acrocomia wallaceana (Drude) Becc.
Acrocomia zapotecis Karw. ex H.Wendl.
Astrocaryum sclerocarpum H.Wendl.
Bactris globosa Gaertn.
Bactris minor Gaertn.
Bactris pavoniana Mart.
Cocos aculeata Jacq.
Cocos fusiformis Sw.
Palma mocaia Aubl.
Palma spinosa Mill.
CULTIVATION
Cold Hardiness Zone (USDA) 10a
GROWTH RATE
MINIMUM TEMPERATURE
exposure
MAX HEIGHT
BIBLIOGRAPHY & SOURCES
[3] Govaerts, R. (1995). World Checklist of Seed Plants 1(1, 2): 1-483, 1-529. MIM, Deurne.
[3] Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
[3] Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
[3] Hokche, O., Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (eds.) (2008). Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela: 1-859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela.
[3] Oliveira-Filho, A.T. (2006). Catálogo das Árvores nativas de Minas Gerais: 1-423. Editora UFLA, Lavas, Brasil.
[3] Lorenzi, H., Noblick, L.R., Kahn, F. & Ferreira, E. (2010). Brazilian Flora Arecaceae (Palms): 1-268. Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora LTDA, São Paulo, Brazil.
[3] Gauto, M.I. (2009). Conservation status assessment of Paraguayan Palms (Arecaceae): 1-132. Universitéde Genève, Faculté des sciences. Masters in Biology.
[3] Hammel, B.E. & al. (2003). Manua
[A] Palmweb - Palms of the World Online - http://www.palmweb.org
[C] WCSP 2013. World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/ Retrieved 2011 onwards
[N] The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
[W] Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrocomia_aculeata
eMonocot: http://e-monocot.org/taxon/urn:kew.org:wcs:taxon:2570
The World Checklist of Monocotyledons: http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/home.do
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
IUCN Red List: http://discover.iucnredlist.org
