ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Sapucaia nuts. Sapucaia nuts and paradise nuts are almost contradictory terms, paradise implying a good exotic flavor, and sapucaia because the nuts were fed to chickens by Amazonian Indians. An edible oil expressed from the kernels is also used to produce soap and illumination. The oil is regarded as antipodriagic and cardiotonic. Rosengarten suggests that the kernels contain ca. 62% fat and 20% protein. Pereira says fruits contain 9% oil. According to S. A. Mori and G. T. Prance, the sapucaia group consists of three species. Mori and Prance found that the carpenter bee, Xylocopa frontalis, is a regular visitor to the flowers. It transports two types of pollen from the flower: viable pollen and nonviable pollen.
