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Platonia
Also called Tracheophytes
Platonia is a genus with a single species, Platonia insignis (bacuri), a dry-season deciduous tree of the Clusiaceae family native to the Amazon rainforest, grown for its edible fruit.
Platonia insignis is a species of tree of the family Clusiaceae, and the sole species of genus Platonia. It is native the Amazon rainforest in tropical South America, ranging through northern and northeastern Brazil, southeastern Colombia, southern Venezuela, and the Guianas. Common names include bacuri (and numerous variant spellings thereof; bacurí, bacury, bakuri, pacuri, pakuri, pakouri, packoeri, pakoeri), maniballi, naranjillo and bacurizeiro.
There was a degree of nomenclatural confusion, caused by Moronobea esculenta. If that were validly published for this species the current name would be Platonia esculenta. It was established that Moronobea esculenta is not a formal name (not "validly published"), so the name remains Platonia insignis.
The bacuri is grown for its fruit, which is made into various condiments and beverages. It contains high levels of phosphorus, iron, and vitamin C. The oily brown seeds are used as a home remedy to treat skin conditions. Its yellowish wood is frequently used as timber.
Platonia is a natural source of trioxygenated xanthones. The latex contains resinotol.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Platonia 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.
