{{Short description|Species of palm}} {{Speciesbox |image = Palma de bacaba.jpg |genus = Oenocarpus |species = bacaba |authority = Mart. }}
'''''Oenocarpus bacaba''''' is an economically important monoecious fruiting palm native to South America and the Amazon rainforest, which has edible fruits. This plant is cited in ''Flora Brasiliensis'' by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius. It can reach up to 20–25 metres tall and 15–25 cm in diameter. It grows in well-drained sandy soils of the Amazon basin.<ref name="galeano">Galeano, Gloria 1992. ''Las palmas de la regíon de Araracuara''. Bogotá: TOPEMBOS - Universidad Nacional.</ref>
==Names== It is called '''''bacaba açu''''', '''''bacaba-de-leque''''', and '''''bacaba verdadeira''''' in Brazil, '''''ungurahui''''' in Peru, '''''camon''''' in French Guiana, '''''koemboe''''' in Suriname, and '''''manoco''''' and '''''punáma''''' in Colombia. The Portuguese '''''"bacaba"''''' and the Spanish '''''"milpesos"''''' (or ''"palma milpesos"'') often denote this species, but may refer to any ''Oenocarpus'' palm. In English it has been called '''''Turu palm'''''.
==Fruit== Bacaba produces more fruits than any other palm in central Amazonia, averaging around 2500 per bunch. Bunches usually weigh about 3–4 kg, but can weigh up to 10 kg. The fruit is a drupe weighing up to 3.0 grams. Propagation is by seeds that germinate in 60–120 days, with slow growth. Production begins when the tree is 3–4 meters high, after about 6 years.
The fruit has a rounded dark red to purple shell and creamy white flesh, rich in oil of a pale yellow color. Bacaba fruit are cooked to prepare a juice which is much sought after by local people,<ref>[http://si-pddr.si.edu/jspui/bitstream/10088/15877/1/stri_Brum_et_al_2008.pdf ]{{dead link|date=November 2013}}</ref> though generally less popular than açaí. Bacaba fruit is agreeable and its flavor is reminiscent of avocado.
The fruits are rich in natural phenols, especially in flavonoids and their red color is due to cyanidin hexosides.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1021/jf3007689|pmid=22788720|title=Antioxidant Activity and Characterization of Phenolic Compounds from Bacaba (Oenocarpus bacaba Mart.) Fruit by HPLC-DAD-MSn|year=2012|last1=Abadio Finco|first1=Fernanda D. B.|last2=Kammerer|first2=Dietmar R.|last3=Carle|first3=Reinhold|last4=Tseng|first4=Wen-Hsin|last5=Böser|first5=Sabrina|last6=Graeve|first6=Lutz|journal=Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry|volume=60|issue=31|pages=7665–73|bibcode=2012JAFC...60.7665A }}</ref>
==Cultivation== The tree grows in well-drained sandy soils of the Amazon basin. Form optimal germination, seeds should be planted at a depth of 2 cm in sand and vermiculite, and the temperature kept around 30 °C.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1590/S0100-29452006000200030 |title=Germinação de sementes e emergência de plântulas de Oenocarpus minor Mart. (Arecaceae) |year=2006 |last1=Silva |first1=Breno Marques da Silva e |last2=Cesarino |first2=Fabiano |last3=Lima |first3=Juliana Domingos |last4=Pantoja |first4=Tammya de Figueiredo |last5=Môro |first5=Fabiola Vitti |journal=Revista Brasileira de Fruticultura |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=289 |doi-access=free |hdl=11449/1186 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Seeds should be kept moist rather than wet.<ref>[http://si-pddr.si.edu/jspui/bitstream/10088/1484/1/Pacheco.pdf ]{{dead link|date=November 2013}}</ref>
==Other information== The seeds and the remains of the macerated pulp are fed to pigs and poultry. Leaves are used for house interiors while trunks provide tough wood suitable for construction.
The capital of Amapá, Macapá, also received influence in its name, whose toponymy is of Tupi origin, as a variation of "macapaba", which means "place of many bacabas".<ref>Navarro, E. A. Dicionário de tupi antigo: a língua indígena clássica do Brasil. São Paulo. Global. 2013. p. 584. </ref> The city of Bacabal in Maranhão was so called because of the large amount of existing Bacaba fruit there.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *Schultes, Richard E. (1974). ''Palms and religion in the northwest Amazon.''''' Principes 18''' (1): 3-21. ''Astrocaryum vulgare'', ''Bactris gasipaes'', ''Euterpe oleracea'', ''E. precatoria'', ''Leopoldinia piassaba'', ''Maximiliana martiana'', '''''Oenocarpus bacaba''''', ''Socratea exorrhiza''
==External links== *{{in lang|pt}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20060528124055/http://www.bibvirt.futuro.usp.br/especiais/frutasnobrasil/bacaba.html ''Oenocarpus bacaba''] photos *{{in lang|pt}} [http://florabrasiliensis.cria.org.br/search?taxon_id=13687 Flora Brasiliensis: ''Oenocarpus bacaba'']
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bacaba Category:Trees of the Amazon rainforest Category:Tropical fruit Category:Trees of Brazil Category:Trees of Peru Category:Taxa named by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius