Brody Burnet Acai Palm ( oleracea) • Family: Palms () • Genus: Euterpe Introduction • Relatives include: , Coconut Tree • Harvested bi-annually once in Geography of January/February and again in June/August cultivation, • Native to , Trinidad, Ecuador, geography of and origin • Grow in swamps and floodplains Morphological description: most remarkable characters

• Tall, slender clumping palm, • Trunk is 15cm in diameter • 2 to 3 meter long leaves fronds pinnate • Flowers are inflorescences branched • Fruit are about 1.5cm in diameter ripening from green to dark purple Features of cultivation

• Grows well in full sun and partial shade but will need shelter when young • Needs plenty of water, prefers a humid environment • Propagate by division of side shoots or by the seeds which take 2 to 4 months to germinate • Brazil sells around 120 000 tons of acai fruit yearly uses

THE FRUITS (ACAI HEARTS OF PALM CAN BE MEDICINALLY THE ACAI THE LEAVES CAN BE THE TRUNKS CAN BE USED THE OIL FORM THE BERRIES BERRIES) ARE EDIBLE AND HARVESTED FROM THE BERRY MAY BE USED AS A WOVEN INTO HATS, MATS, FOR CONSTRUCTION IS USED IN SHAMPOOS, USED AS A PASTE, WINE, PLANT DYE DURING BASKETS, BROOMS AND SOAPS OR SKIN JUICE OR JUST ATE WHOLE CHROMOVITRECTOMY THATCHED ROOFS MOISTURIZERS • Has been used by the Amazonian Some people since pre-Columbian times • The berries were used in foods while historical the leaves and trunks were used to facts make houses • Atached to the buzzword “Superfood” • In 2009 was ranked #1 scam and rip off by the US Federal Trade Commission Use in North • Claims ranged from reversal of diabetes America to being an aphrodisiac • In 2012 the FTC fined five companies $80 million dollars for marketing acai products with fraudulent claims Copied directly from Legend of Acai htps://www.nativoacai.c om/the-legend-of-iaca-ac ai-folklore-from-brazil/