Jessenia bataua (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Jessenia bataua (Mart.) Burret

Family: Palmae

Synonyms

• Jessenia polycarpa Karsten,
• J. repanda Engel,
• Oenocarpus bataua Mart.

Vernacular names

• Pataua palm, seje palm, mille pesos palm (En).

Distribution

The northern half of South America. Cultivated on a small scale also elsewhere in the tropics.

Uses

The ripe mesocarp of the fruit yields a nutritious, oily beverage, from which an oil similar to olive oil is obtained and which also has medicinal value. The drink is milk-like and an important source of protein and energy. The oil can be used for food, soap and cosmetics. The milky residue from oil extraction (called "yacuta") is consumed as a beverage. The seed is edible and the "cabbage" of the palm is an excellent vegetable. The leaves are used for thatching and for weaving e.g. baskets.

Observations

• Large, usually massive, solitary, pleonanthic, monoecious palm, with columnar trunk 14-30 m tall, 15-30 cm in diameter, clothed with remains of leaf sheaths, sheath fibres and spines, but becoming bare and obscurely ringed with leaf scars.
• Leaves 8-16 per crown, spirally arranged, suberect when young, horizontally spreading when mature, pinnately compound; sheath up to 1.5 m long, thick, inner surface with stout needle-like fibres up to 1 m long; petiole up to 1 m long, 8-12 cm wide at base; rachis 3-8 m or longer, with 65-108 pairs of pinnae; pinnae rather variable, central ones 1-2 m × 5-10 cm.
• Inflorescence shaped like a horsetail (hippuriform), solitary but usually 1-3 apparent at any one time, between the leaves in bud but ending below the leaves, branched to 1 order, protandrous; peduncle stout but short, rachis variable in length, bearing 100-300 hanging rachillae 0.5-1.5 m long, bearing triads of flowers (2 male ones situated above 1 female) in basal half.
• Flowers sessile, with 3 sepals and petals, unisexual, creamy-white; male flowers asymmetrical, petals 4-8 mm × 2-4 mm, stamens 9-20, about 5 mm long; female flowers symmetrical, larger than male flowers, style with 3 large, fleshy stigmas.
• Fruit drupe-like, globose to ellipsoid, 2-4 cm in diameter, dark purple-black, exocarp smooth, thin, mesocarp fleshy, rich in oil, with inner bands of large flat fibres, inner layer adnate to the seed, usually bearing one seed.
• Seed ellipsoid, with ruminate, horny endosperm and large embryo.

J. bataua naturally grows in rain forest in large stands in periodically flooded areas, but also as scattered individuals in upland primary forest up to about 1000 m altitude. The pulp constitutes about 40% of the fruit and contains about 50% oil. An adult palm produces on average 2 fruit clusters per year, each with 1000 or more fruits weighing 30 kg. The oil is yellow and its fatty acid composition is like that of olive oil (palmitic acid 11-15%, oleic acid 75-80%), while the linoleic acid is only 2-3%. The biological value of the protein from J. bataua is similar to that of casein. J. bataua is a very useful multipurpose palm and it would be worthwhile to study possibilities for its cultivation in suitable areas in South-East Asia.

Selected sources

10, 11, 85, 126.