Bactris gasipaes chichagui (Bactris gasipaes chichagui)

Description

Bactris gasipaes Kunth is a plant belonging to the family of Arecaceae, a native of' Central America and the South. It is one of the most important palms of pre-Columbian America and its fruits are still today the main crop for the Amerindian populations of the tropical areas, both wet and dry. The wood of the trunk is also used for the construction of bows, arrows and spears. Bactris gasipaes is a palm that grows upright with a single slender jamb or, more frequently, with several jambs of about 20 cm in diameter grouped together; the trunks are equipped with perpendicular rigid spines, dark in color and with decreasing length from the base to the top. In full maturity, each jamb can reach a height ranging between 12 and 20 m. The roots can expand superficially up to 4 or 5 m away from the plant; even if most of them remain about 20 cm from the ground, the main roots can go up to 2 m of depth. The apical apex of the jambs presents from 10 to 30 pinnate leaves, generally without thorns or with small thorns on the sheath, on the petiole or on the ribs. The petiole is long between 49 and 179 cm, while the rachis can reach a length of 4 m; the number of side segments can vary from 180 to 386 elements. actris gasipaes is a monoecious plant : it develops flowers of both sexes on the same individual. The inflorescences are at the beginning enclosed by two bracts : one external, hard and triangular, measuring about 13 cm in width and one inside, often covered with thorns. The spata is in full developmentcan measure up to 51 to 126 cm in length. The peduncle can measure from 10 to 17 cm, while the inflorescence rachis reaches 75 cm in length; on it, between 25 and 145 fertile rachis secondary (rachille) are inserted, long up to 45 cm. The female flowers, irregularly arranged among the male ones, are yellow or, more rarely, green and are long from 3 to 13 mm and wide from 4 to 12 mm; the smaller, masculine flowers are cream-yellow and their six stamens are arranged in pairs on either side of the corolla. The fruits are in the form of drupe ; their color can vary from yellow to brown or orange, depending on the different varieties. The shape can also vary, as well as the color of the mesocarp , usually included between the cream and the orange. The endocarp, which contains the seed inside, is dark in color and is usually found in the central part of the fruit; its shape can be ovoidal, elliptical, round or cuneiform. It has a length ranging from 1 to 4 12 cm, a width of 1 to 2 cm and a weight that can reach 9 g; it can be found free from the mesocarp or adhering to it. The number of ripe fruits for inflorescence can be counted more than 700 specimens, for a total weight of 20 kg. The parthenocarpic fruits are quite frequent, and are generally smaller than the fertile ones.