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Chamaedorea tepejilote
Pacaya palm is a small, clumping understory palm from Central America and northern South America, grown for its edible immature flower clusters. It does best in warm, humid, partly shaded conditions.
Chamaedorea tepejilote, also known as the pacaya palm, is a species of Chamaedorea palm tree found in the understory of the forests of southern Mexico, Central America, and northern Colombia.
The immature male inflorescences of the plant are considered a delicacy in Guatemala and El Salvador. The unopened inflorescences resemble an ear of corn in appearance and size. Indeed, the word tepejilote means "mountain maize" in the Nahuatl language and was selected because of this resemblance. The common name pacaya, referring to both the plant and its edible flowers, could be derived from the Pacaya volcano.
Cascade Palm · Parlor palm · Metallic Palm · Chamaedorea microspadix · Seifriz's chamaedorea
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chamaedorea tepejilote 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.
