The Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa) :: Botany

The brazil-nut tree nut Nut (Bertholletia excelsa)The brazil Nut is the fruit of a tree that grows mostly wild in rainforests. Castanheiro do Para, which is the Brazilian name given to this tree, is found in galore(postnominal) Amazonian states of Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Venezuela and Ecudor. It is most pervalent in the Brazilian states of Marahao, Mato Grosso, Acre, Para, Rondonia, and the Amazonas. The tree is enormous, Frequently attaining the height of clx feet or more. The fruit is a large spherical woody enclose or shell and measures an average of six inches in diameter and fucking weigh up to 5 pounds. The fruit pods grow at the ends of dim branches, then ripens and falls from the tree from January to June. Inside each fruit pod is 12 to 25 Brazil zesty with their own indvidual shell(1).Brazil nuts be harvested at sowations and in the wild. Plantations atomic number 18 being developed in various parts of the Amazon. Fazenda Aruana is the owner of a 12,000 hectare d escriptorer cattle ranch, partially converted to a Brazil Nut plantation in 1980. By January of 1990, 318,660 Brazil nut trees were planted on 3341 hectares of land. Fazendas original intent was to plant Brazil Nut trees in a 20 by 20 meter grids and allow cattle grazing between the trees. The trees in the Aruana plantation are the exit of grafting high yield clones from the region of Abufari Amazonas were Brazil nuts are know for their large fruits and seeds. As a result of fertilization from the same clones, the fruit production among clones has been low(2). Another danger in using so few clones is the ability to resist attack of malady and louses.The bulk of the Brazil nuts that are harvested are done so in the wild. They are harvested during a five to six month close in the rainy season. The fruits, witch weigh from .5 to 2.5 kilograms and contain ten to cardinal five seeds, are gathered immediately after they fall. This minimizes the chance of insect or fungal attack on s eeds. Brazil nuts are also carried away by animals. The number of pods can range form 63 to 216 per tree(). Most of the pods gathered in the wild are move down river to processing plants were they are opened out of the pod and packaged.The brazil nut has a major impact on local Amazonian economies. The rime on total production are estimates due to the fact figures are hard to get from the Amazon.