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Attalea speciosa
Attalea speciosa is a tall, feather-leaved palm of the Amazon and Cerrado regions of South America, valued for its oil-rich seeds and used for thatch and timber. It is a large, long-lived tree best grown in frost-free tropical conditions with full sun and deep, fertile soil.
Attalea speciosa, the babassu, babassu palm, babaçu, or cusi, is a palm native to the Amazon rainforest region in South America. The babassu palm is the predominant species in the Maranhão Babaçu forests of Maranhão and Piauí states.
This plant has commercial value because its seeds produce an edible oil called babassu oil, which is also used in cleaners and skin-care products. The fruit is used to produce products such as medicines, beauty aids, and beverages. Traditional communities of the Maranhão region also produce a flour from the fruit, and this is commercialized as a nutritional supplement. The leaves are also used to provide thatch for houses and can be woven into mats for constructing house walls. The stems are used for timbers. The babassu palm is considered a weed in pasture areas of Cerrado vegetation in Brazil.
Cohune Palm · Carossier palm · Attalea dubia · Bahia piassaba palm · Attalea palm
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Attalea speciosa 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.
