ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Gru-Gru Nut. Since pre-Colombian times, this palm has, with Copernicia australis, supplied food, shelter, and the raw material for fabrication of soaps, hats, ropes, baskets, bags, hammocks, and mats. In Argentina, it is regarded as an ornamental palm with edible nuts. Leaves are sometimes lopped for fodder in the dry season. The oil could be used like that of other oil palms for energy, the press-cake for alcohol production or animal feed. Brazil is now studying this plant as a renewable source of fuel oil. Five industrially useful products are obtainable: pulp oil, kernel oil, kernel meal, kernel cake, and extracted pulp. Humans usually eat only the pulp of freshly fallen fruits owing to the difficulty of extracting the kernels.
