Attalea marip

[amazondk]

Sorry, I left the a off of the end of maripa.  It should read Attalea maripa.

dk

I was over at the city of Itacoatiara down the Amazon River some 280 kms from Manaus the past few days.  While there I took a few shots of some Attalea maripas which I thought might be interesting.  These palms are more like weeds here as they grow anywhere pretty much there is disturbed land.  They are pretty palms though.  One thing which was interesting was the quantity of wasps nesting amoung the seed pods of the trees.  Also you might notice that it is quite dry.  It has not rained much in the past 3 months.  Eventhough we do not expect to have the problems of last year when there was a record drought and low water levels.  This year there has actually been above average rainfall in the area.

It has been real hot, average daytime temps over 40 C.

dk

[amazondk]

Here are a few more shots from the same place.

dk

[Gileno Machado]

Don:

This amazonic Attalea (formerly described as a monoespecific genus Maximiliana) has been in my wish list for a long time now. Lorenzi's book brings an amazing illustration too, but from your pictures I understand now how the leaf arrangement in four opposite sides is interesting and different from the other species, and also the fronds don't bring the sharp twist in the tips like the other species in the genus. I have received many maripa seeds from Belém last year and shared a few with other friends, but none of mine have sprouted here yet...the germination does not seem very easy but I am still optimistic. Thanks for sharing these photos.

[amazondk]

Gileno,

I should be able to get you some seeds, there were a lot of them on the ground where I was.  And, there are a lot of these palms around Manaus.

dk

[simona]

Hello Don,

Do you think you might be able to get some fresh few seeds of the Attalea maripa?

There is a friend of mine in Germany who is looking for fresh seeds.

[amazondk]

Simona,

Getting fresh seeds is really no problem.  The problem is sending them.  I have not been very good at getting this done.  If you declare them at the post office they make a big deal and send you to the Agriculture Ministry.  There lays the problem.  But, is solveable and I do need to get this done.  I will see about that part next week since I will be in Manaus all week.

dk

[simona]

Thank you a lot, Dot. I will pss over your answer to my friend. Sche'll be extremly happy about your positive reaction. Take your time and thank you, again.

[aussiearoids]

Just heard from a local guy who had collected Attalea speciosa seeds locally .

Seeds had not sprouted after 18 months , so he emptied the pot , gave them another soak , and placed on top of the media in full sun . He got sprouts a few months after that .

[Kai]

Some time ago I collected A. maripa seeds in Suriname. The fruits are sold at market places there and taste pretty good. I took a lot of seeds home, sprouted some and gave the rest away to other enthousiast, who also had no problems sprouting them. Here's a picture of one of my seedlings about a month ago...