''Phytelephas'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

containing six known

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

palms (

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Arecaceae), occurring from southern

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

along the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, northwestern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. They are commonly known as ivory palms, ivory-nut palms or tagua palms (); the

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''Phytelephas'' means "plant

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

" or more literally, "plant elephant". This and the first two of the common names refer to the very hard white

endosperm The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the Embryo#Pla ...

of their seeds (tagua nuts or jarina seeds), which resembles elephant ivory.Vegetable ivory: saving elephants and the rain forest
/ref>

Description

They are medium-sized to tall palms reaching up to 20 m tall, with pinnate

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

. The "nut" is covered with

pericarp Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Fruitlike structures may develop directly from the seed itself rather th ...

, which gets removed by animals. The kernel is covered with a brown, flaky skin and shaped like a small

avocado The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear (''Persea americana'') is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to Americas, the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was priz ...

, roughly 4–8 cm in diameter. The male plants produce

catkins A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in ''Salix''). It contains many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged cl ...

up to three feet (0.9 meter) in length of male flowers, each bearing up to one thousand

stamens The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filamen ...

, the greatest number of any

Monocot Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants whose seeds contain only one Embryo#Plant embryos, embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. A monocot taxon has been in use for several decades, but ...

Uses

Given trade restrictions in

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

ivory as well as

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

concerns, ivory palm

is often used as a substitute for elephant ivory today, and traded under the names ''

vegetable ivory Vegetable ivory or Phytelephas, tagua nut is a product made from the very hard white endosperm of the seeds of certain Arecaceae, palm trees. Vegetable ivory is named for its resemblance to ivory, animal ivory. Vegetable ivory is naturally white ...

'', ''palm ivory'', ''marfil-vegetal'', ''corozo'', ''tagua'', or ''jarina''. When dried out, it can be carved just like elephant ivory; it is often used for

bead A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under 1 ...

buttons A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, o ...

, figurines and

jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

, and can be dyed. More recently, palm ivory has been used in the production of

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

. Vegetable ivory stimulates local economies in South America, provides an alternative to cutting down

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

s for farming, and prevents elephants from being killed for the ivory in their tusks. In

, the Ecuadorean ivory palm ('' P. aequatorialis'') is the

whose kernels are widely harvested. The large-fruited ivory palm ('' P. macrocarpa'') is the ivory palm native to Brazil, and most internationally traded palm ivory is derived from this species. The Colombian ivory palm ('' P. schottii'') and '' P. tenuicaulis'', both formerly included in ''P. macrocarpa'', are the usual source of the product in

. The other two species are quite rare and have a restricted range; they are not used for ''tagua'' production on a significant scale. The kernels are picked up from the ground after the ripe fruit has detached from the tree and forest animals have taken care of the

, or harvested when ripe and the pericarp manually removed. As the nut shrinks when it hardens, a small hollow cavity can form in the center. It is often not possible to know whether the inside of the nut will have a small cavity in the center until it is cut into. Therefore, when carving, it is common to either incorporate the hole or cavity into carvings or not carve deep enough to reach a potential cavity. In their native range, these palms are also used as a source of food and construction wood. Taguacarving.JPG, ''Tagua'' carvings Lombards Museum 1000.jpg,

ian handicraft Silver locket with tagua nut center by Meryl CA.jpeg, Silver

locket A locket is a pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item such as a lock of hair. Lockets are usually given to loved ones on holidays such as Valentine's Day and occasions such as christenings, weddin ...

with ''tagua'' center

List of species

The following species are recognized:

References

External links

* The New Student's Reference Work/Ivory, Vegetable
''Phytelephas'' Information
{{Authority control Arecaceae genera Ivory Non-timber forest products Dioecious plants Taxa named by José Antonio Pavón Jiménez Taxa named by Hipólito Ruiz López