Attalea cohune

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Figure 1. A. cohune in habitat, Mexico.

Common Names:

Cohune Palm

Habitat:

Central American rainforest.

Description:

A massive palm, featuring extremely long leaves (up to 10m), held almost upright, with the dark green leaflets hanging down, (hence the occasionally used term "rain tree"). These leaves, combined with a trunk that can reach 15m, results in a rather impressive plant.

General:

The large, oval-shaped fruit is harvested commercially to produce cohune oil, a lubricant.

Culture:

A very slow growing plant, best suited to the tropics, or a sheltered warm spot in the sub-tropics, it is none the less quite popular with collectors because of its majestic appearance.

Figure 2. A. cohune in clearedtropical deciduous forest in Nayarit State, Mexico.

Figure 3. A. cohune in habitat, Mexico.

Contributed by:

Bob Lauri (Figure 1,2&3)

External Links:

Kew, PalmWeb, JSTOR, Trebrown

Google, GoogleImages, Flickr, PalmTalk