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Botany

Scientific Name :	Euterpe oleracea Mart.
Family :	Palmae (Arecaeae)
Class :	Liliopsida Principes
Division :	Angiospermae (Magnoliophyta)
Synonyms :	Euterpe badiocarpa
Used Part :	Fruit

Macro and Microscopic Description

The açai tree is a multi-trunk palm, with up to 25 stems per shrub. The stems of the adult tree reach heights and diameters varying from 3 to 20 m and from 7 to 18 cm, respectively. Each stem holds, at its terminal portion, a set of 8 to 14 compound pinnate leaves and in a spiral formation, with 40 to 80 pairs of leaflets, opposed or sub-opposed.

The inflorescence of the açai palm tree is infrafoliar and nearly horizontally disposed. At the first two one-thirds of each rachillae the flowers are disposed in triads, with each female flower flanked by two male flowers. At the terminal one third of the rachillae only male flowers are found. The inflorescences present, on average, 80.5% of male flowers and 19.5% of female flowers.

The fruit is a globose drupe, presenting flower residues, with a diameter varying between 1 and 2 cm and an average weight of 1.5 g. The epicarp of the ripe fruits, are a purple color, almost black, or green, depending on the kind of açaí. The mesocarp is pulpy and thin, with an almost never varying thickness of less than 1 mm. It surrounds the voluminous and hard endocarp, which contains a seed, with a diminutive embryo and abundant ruminate endosperm.