Palm Sunday
There’s a very interesting read on palms, willows, and yews at the Words and Pictures blog.
In honor of the day, I offer this image of palms growing near Sortova, Chiriqui. Without botany.
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hi miconia…
nice blog… i’d like to be neighbors with you.
were you looking for a name for those palms near sortova? they are pixbae and are grown for the edible nut. the nut grows in colorful bunches of green to orange and reminds me of a bunch of dates. it’s boiled in salty water and eaten out of hand, the flavor kinda reminds me a winter squash… they are sold both cooked and raw in the markets.
i find the palms quite attractive and they are used by the birds for nests and parrots and oropendulas use the emerging new leaves for a roost even tho it is a vertical ”post”.
norm : ))~
~~~ interesting place, this panama ~~~
Norm,
Thanks! I wasn’t actually fishing for a name, but I’m delighted to learn it, and to learn about the nuts. These are not the famous piñola nuts, by any chance, are they?
Lovely photo for the day!
The pixbae or pejibaye (PEE-vah) palm is Bactris gasipaes; Peach Palm in English. The fruit is appreciated throughout the humid neotropics.
It is called chonta in parts of South America; I have heard that name in Panama when referring to the palm as a source of building materials.
B. gasipaes is not known in the wild, and is thought to have been developed from B. macana by human selection millenia ago. (Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas, Henderson et. al., 1995)
I’m so glad those ancient humans put in the effort! Yum! The fruit with scarred stripes is usually considered superior (Mariano and Rufino, my employees).
Carla,
Thank you for the great information. When is the fruit ripe? I’m now really eager to try some.
It was clear from the photo that the palms were being cultivated. Now I know why!
I haven’t tracked availability very well, but you can get pixvae in July and August for sure. I’m still seeing it for sale on the sidewalk in front of Super Baru in David and in little bags in the fruit stands. When sold by eaches, it has already been cooked and is ready to eat.