Palmito dulce
Prestoea acuminata

Family: Arecaceae

What it is like

A palm with one or many stems. They grow 6-15 m tall. The stems are 4-20 cm across. It has spiny stilt roots. There are 4-10 leaves. The leaf sheath is partly closed. The crown-shaft is purple-green. The leaf stalk is 1.1-2.6 m long. There are 30-80 leaflets on each side. They are narrow. The flowering stalks are horizontal. There are 23-117 flowering branches 3-20 cm long. The fruit are round and 1-1.2 cm across. They are purple-black. Some of these are now put in var. montana.

There are 11 Prestoa species.

Where it is found

A tropical plant. It grows between 800 and 2600 m altitude in southern Ecuador. In Costa Rica it grows between 1,000-2,450 m altitude.

Countries/locations it is found in

Amazon, Andes, Antilles, Bolivia, Central America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Hispaniola, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, South America, Tobago, Venezuela, West Indies

How it is used for food

The palm heart can be eaten raw, fried or cooked.

The palm hearts are canned for selling internationally. They are cultivated.

Edible parts

Palm heart, cabbage, fruit

How it is grown

See references Henderson, A., Galeano, G and Bernal, R., 1995, Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas. Princeton. p 126

Its other names

Local names

Cano, Cuaste, Manaca, Maquenque, Palma de sierra, Palma justa, Palma ramosilla, Palmicho, Palmis moutany, Palmis wouj, Palmito, Palmito de matequilla, Palmito morado, Sake, Tinguiso, Titi

Synonyms

Acrista monticola O. F. Cook; Aiphanes pragra Kunth.; Euterpe acuminata (Willd.) H. Wendl.; Euterpe andicola Brong. ex Mart.; Euterpe andina Burret; Euterpe aphanolepis Burret; Euterpe brevivaginata Mart.; Euterpe chaunostachys Burret; Euterpe dasystachys Burret; Euterpe frigida (Kunth.) Burret; Euterpe globosa Gaertn.; Euterpe haenkeana Brong. ex Mart.; Euterpe maneale (Mart.) Griseb. & H. Wendl. ex Griseb.; Euterpe megalochlamys Burret; Euterpe microspadix Burret; Euterpe montana Graham; Euterpe oocarpa Burret; Euterpe pertenuis L. H. Bailey; Euterpe praga (Kunth.)Spreng.; Euterpe purpurea Engel; Euterpe tobagonis L. H. Bailey; Euterpe trichoclada Burret; Euterpe zephyria Dugand; Oenocarpus caracasanus Mart.; Oenocarpus frigidus (Kunth.) Spreng.; Oenocarpus utilis Klotzsch; Oreodoxa acuminata Willd.; Oreodoxa frigida Kunth; Oreodoxa manaele Mart.; Prestoea allenii H.E.Moore; Prestoea dasystachys (Burret) R. Bernal, Galeano & Henderson; Prestoea gregalis L.H.Bailey; Prestoea megalochlamys (Burret)H.E.Moore; Prestoea montana (Graham)Nicholson; Prestoea sabana L.H.Bailey; Prestoea trichoclada (Burret)Balslev & Henderson;