toxicity of palm fruits

[Geoff]

I know Arenga an Caryota fruits are pretty toxic with all their oxylates... but I just read several sources saying the fruits of Chamaedorea seifrizii are very toxic. Yet I can find nothing actually written about their toxicity other than these general statements. Does anyone happen to know if this is the case? The reason I am questioning it is because one of the sources was claiming the leaves were toxic, too, and I know that's false.

[aussiearoids]

Old husbands tale ...

[osideterry]

Aren't C. tepijilote "Pacaya Beans" eaten in Central America?

[PalmGuyWC]

I've cleaned thousands of Chamaedorea seeds over the years, and I've never had any reaction. Fish tails and Arengas are another story. I'm sure Inge Hoffman would be the expert on cleaning palm seeds.

Dick

[XYZ]

Sorry to differ, but there are any number of Cham spp. whose seeds' mesocarp will produce a ferocious reaction on exposed skin. I seem to recall that there was a table published in one of the mainstream palm handbooks that lists the acridity/toxicity of seeds of a number of palm spp., including Chams, and it is clear from the table that while some are relatively benign, there are also those that most definitely are not. Offhand, I do not remember having cleaned any spp. (>60 spp under running water) that did not produce at least a mild irritation or burning sensation on my palms and fingers. Some were quite as unpleasant to work with as the fruit of Gaussia maya, which is our local champ when it comes to being a pain (literally!) to clean.

Young village pranksters here will still occasionally wander crowds with a handful of ripe Cham fruits in their pockets, which they crush with their fingers as they walk along and then brush on the forearms of passers-by. The itching sensation of this material on sensitive skin is quite maddening for short period of time. This reaction is certainly yuck-yuck material for preadolescent boys.

The edible parts of C. tepejilote are the immature male infls. ("pacaya") and the heart ("palmito"/"bojón"). I am not aware of seeds of any regional Cham spp. being eaten by anything other than rodents and weevils.

J

[PalmGuyWC]

Stone,

Your comments are very interesting. I've cleaned many species of Chams, and never had a reaction, but maybe there are some with toxins that irritate the skin, but I'v never run across them. It could be that some people are more sensitive to the fruit than others.

Dick