Astrocaryum chambira, the chambira palm, is a large, spiny Amazonian palm grown mainly for its leaf fibre, used in weaving nets, hammocks and bags. It needs full tropical warmth and humidity and is not a practical houseplant.
Family
Arecaceae (Palm family)
Grows as
Tree, Climber, Palm
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep the soil consistently moist, especially when young, and water during dry spells.
Soil
Deep, fertile, well-drained loamy soil.
Temperature
22–32 °C; protect below 10 °C.
How easy
Hard
Native range
S. Trop. America
Climate
wet tropical
About
Astrocaryum chambira, the chambira palm or chambira, is a large and spiny palm native to the Amazon rainforest in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela that is mostly known for its commercial value as a fiber crop. It can reach over 25 meters in height, and it is not uncommon for climbing trees to be planted nearby to make harvesting the fruit and leaves both easier and safer.
Indigenous people use the fibers of young leaves to weave into products such as nets, hammocks, bags, and other fabric and textile products. In most places where this fiber is used, the sale of products woven from these fibers to tourists is a major source of income, though there is great geographic variation in abundance and income received for products made from these fibers. In addition to the fibers, it is believed that the fruit and liquid endosperm within the seeds can help with fever reduction.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Astrocaryum chambira by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.