Brazilian
Nut (Brazil Nut)
The Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa)
is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae,
and also the name of the tree's commercially harvested
edible seed.
The Brazil nut tree is the only species in the monotypic
type genus Bertholletia. It is native to the Guianas,
Venezuela, Brazil, eastern Colombia, eastern Peru
and eastern Bolivia. It occurs as scattered trees
in large forests on the banks of the Amazon, Rio
Negro, Tapajós, and the Orinoco. The genus
is named after the French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet.
The Brazil nut is a large tree, reaching 30–45
metres (100–150 ft) tall and 1–2
metres (3–6.5 ft) trunk diameter, among
the largest of trees in the Amazon Rainforests.
It may live for 500 years or more, and according
to some authorities often reaches an age of 1,000
years. The stem is straight and commonly unbranched
for well over half the tree's height, with a large
emergent crown of long branches above the surrounding
canopy of other trees.
The bark is grayish and smooth. The leaves are dry-season
deciduous, alternate, simple, entire or crenate,
oblong, 20–35 centimetre long and 10–15
centimetres broad. The flowers are small, greenish-white,
in panicles 5–10 centimetres long; each flower
has a two-parted, deciduous calyx, six unequal cream-colored
petals, and numerous stamens united into a broad,
hood-shaped mass.
Around 20,000 tons of Brazil nuts are harvested
each year, of which Bolivia accounts for about 50%,
Brazil 40% and Peru 10% (2000 estimates).In 1980,
annual production was around 40,000 tons per year
from Brazil alone, and in 1970 Brazil harvested
a reported 104,487 tons of nuts.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
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