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Caryocar nuciferum
Also called Pekea Nut, Butternut
A large tropical rainforest tree, up to about 35 m, grown mainly for its big nuts, which are eaten raw or roasted and yield an edible oil. It is grown in humid lowland tropics and is rarely a houseplant.
Caryocar nuciferum, the butter-nut of Guiana, is a fruit tree native to Central and South America.
The species is native to Costa Rica, Panama, northern Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, and Venezuela.
The endocarp is eaten raw or roasted, and produces a nondrying edible oil. The wood is durable and used for boat building. The correctly expressed oil of its nuts produces an effective healing balm.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Caryocar nuciferum 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.
