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Mauritia flexuosa
Also called Moriche Palm
Muriti is a tall, fan-leaved palm of swampy and waterlogged lowlands in tropical South America, valued for its fruit and for the fibre and materials it provides. It needs wet, humid conditions and a large root space, so it is rarely grown outside the tropics.
Mauritia flexuosa, known as the moriche palm, ité palm, ita, buriti, muriti, miriti (Brazil), canangucho (Colombia), morete or acho (Ecuador), palma real (Bolivia), or aguaje (Peru), is a palm tree. It grows in and near swamps and other wet areas in tropical South America.
Mauritia flexuosa can reach up to 35 m (115 ft) in height. Henderson and McBride both give a height of 50 m (160 ft). The trunk can be up to 70 cm (28 in) diameter at breast height The large leaves form a rounded crown. The tree produces Pneumatophores which can develop as much as 30 metres (98 ft) from the trunk. suggesting a very extensive root system. The flowers are yellowish and appear from December to April. The fruit, which grows from December to June, is a chestnut color and is covered with shiny scales. The yellow flesh covers a hard, oval nut.
Mauritia flexuosa is found in the wild in South America in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad, and Venezuela.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mauritia flexuosa 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.
