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Brazil nut

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Not to be confused with the brazilwood tree.

Brazil nut tree
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Lecythidaceae
Genus: Bertholletia
Bonpl.
Species:
B. excelsa
Binomial name
Bertholletia excelsa
Humb. & Bonpl.

The Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds.[2] It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest. The fruit and its nutshell – containing the edible Brazil nut – are relatively large and weigh as much as 2 kg (4.4 lb) in total. As food, Brazil nuts are notable for diverse content of micronutrients, especially a high amount of selenium. The wood of the Brazil nut tree is prized for its quality in carpentry, flooring, and heavy construction.

Common names

In Portuguesenigger

The bark is grayish and smooth. The leaves are dry-season deciduous, alternate, simple, entire or crenate, oblong, 20–35 centimetres (8–14 inches) long, and 10–15 cm (4–6 in) broad. The flowers are small, greenish-white, in panicles 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long; each flower has a two-parted, deciduous calyx, six unequal cream-colored petals, and numerous stamens united into a broad, hood-shaped mass.[citation needed]

Reproduction

Brazil nut trees produce fruit almost exclusively in pristine forests, as disturbed forests lack the large-bodied bees of the genera Bombus, Centris, Epicharis, Eulaema, and Xylocopa, which are the only ones capable of pollinating the tree's flowers, with different bee genera being the primary pollinators in different areas, and different times of year.[3][4][5] Brazil nuts have been harvested from plantations, but production is low and is currently not economically viable.[2][6][7]

A freshly cut Brazil nut fruit

The fruit takes 14 months to mature after pollination of the flowers. The fruit itself is a large capsule 10–15 cm (4–6 in) in diameter, resembling a coconut endocarp in size and weighing up to 2 kg (4 lb 7 oz). It has a hard, woody shell 8–12 mm (3⁄8–1⁄2 in) thick, which contains eight to 24 wedge-shaped seeds 4–5 cm (1+5⁄8–2 in) long (the "Brazil nuts") packed like the segments of an orange, but not limited to one whorl of segments. Up to three whorls can be stacked onto each other, with the polar ends of the segments of the middle whorl nestling into the upper and lower whorls (see illustration above).

The capsule contains a small hole at one end, which enables large rodents like the agouti to gnaw it open.[8] They then eat some of the seeds inside while burying others for later use; some of these are able to germinate into new Brazil nut trees.[8] Most of the seeds are "planted" by the agoutis in caches during wet season,[8] and the young saplings may have to wait years, in a state of dormancy, for a tree to fall and sunlight to reach it, when it starts growing again. Capuchin monkeys have been reported to open Brazil nuts using a stone as an anvil.

Taxonomy

The Brazil nut family, the Lecythidaceae, is in the order Ericales, as are other well-known plants such as blueberries, cranberries, sapote, gutta-percha, tea, phlox, and persimmons. The tree is the only species in the monotypic genus Bertholletia,[2] named after French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). However, the amount of selenium within batches of nuts may vary considerably.[9]

The high selenium content is used as a biomarker in studies of selenium intake and deficiency.[10][11] Consumption of just one Brazil nut per day over 8 weeks was sufficient to restore selenium blood levels and increase HDL cholesterol in obese women.[11]

Oil

Brazil nut oil

Brazil nut oil contains 48% unsaturated fatty acids composed mainly of oleic and linoleic acids, the phytosterol, beta-sitosterol,[12] and fat-soluble vitamin E.[13]

The following table presents the composition of fatty acids in Brazil nut oil (see USDA source in nutrition table):

Palmitic acid 10%
Palmitoleic acid 0.2%
Stearic acid 6%
Oleic acid 24%
Linoleic acid 24%
Alpha-linolenic acid 0.04%
Saturated fats 16%
Unsaturated fats 48%

Wood

The lumber from Brazil nut trees (not to be confused with Brazilwood) is of excellent quality, having diverse uses from flooring to heavy construction.[14] Logging the trees is prohibited by law in all three producing countries (Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru). Illegal extraction of timber and land clearances present continuing threats.[15] In Brazil, cutting down a Brazil nut tree requires previous authorization from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources.[16][17]

Other uses

Brazil nut oil is used as a lubricant in clocks[18] and in the manufacturing of paint and cosmetics, such as soap and perfume.[14] Because of its hardness, the Brazil nutshell is often pulverized and used as an abrasive to polish materials, such as metals and ceramics, in the same way as jeweler's rouge. The charcoal from the nut shells may be used to purify water.[14]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bertholletia excelsa.
Wikispecies has information related to Bertholletia excelsa.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Brazil Nuts".

References

  1. ^ Americas Regional Workshop (Conservation & Sustainable Management of Trees, Costa Rica, November 1996) (1998). "Bertholletia excelsa". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 1998: e.T32986A9741363. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1998.RLTS.T32986A9741363.en. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Mori, Scott A. "The Brazil Nut Industry – Past, Present, and Future". The New York Botanical Garden. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  3. ^ Nelson, B. W.; Absy, M. L.; Barbosa, E. M.; Prance, G. T. (January 1985). "Observations on flower visitors to Bertholletia excelsa H. B. K. and Couratari tenuicarpa A. C. Sm. (Lecythidaceae)". Acta Amazonica. 15 (1): 225–234. doi:10.1590/1809-43921985155234. S2CID 87265447. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  4. ^ Moritz, A. (1984). Estudos biológicos da floração e da frutificação da castanha-do-Brasil (Bertholletia excelsa HBK) [Biological studies of flowering and fruiting of Brazil nuts (Bertholleira excelsa HKB)] (in Portuguese). Vol. 29. Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
  5. ^ Cavalcante, M. C.; Oliveira, F. F.; Maués, M. M.; Freitas, B. M. (October 27, 2017). "Pollination Requirements and the Foraging Behavior of Potential Pollinators of Cultivated Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa Bonpl.) Trees in Central Amazon Rainforest". Psyche: A Journal of Entomology. 2012: 1–9. doi:10.1155/2012/978019.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference henn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Ortiz, Enrique G. "The Brazil Nut Tree: More than just nuts". Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  8. ^ a b c Haugaasen, Joanne M. Tuck; Haugaasen, Torbjørn; Peres, Carlos A.; Gribel, Rogerio; Wegge, Per (March 30, 2010). "Seed dispersal of the Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa) by scatter-hoarding rodents in a central Amazonian forest". Journal of Tropical Ecology. 26 (3): 251–262. doi:10.1017/s0266467410000027. S2CID 84855812.
  9. ^ Chang, Jacqueline C.; Gutenmann, Walter H.; Reid, Charlotte M.; Lisk, Donald J. (1995). "Selenium content of Brazil nuts from two geographic locations in Brazil". Chemosphere. 30 (4): 801–802. Bibcode:1995Chmsp..30..801C. doi:10.1016/0045-6535(94)00409-N. PMID 7889353.
  10. ^ Garcia-Aloy, Mar; Hulshof, Paul J. M.; Estruel-Amades, Sheila; Osté, Maryse C. J.; Lankinen, Maria; Geleijnse, Johanna M.; de Goede, Janette; Ulaszewska, Marynka; Mattivi, Fulvio; Bakker, Stephan J. L.; Schwab, Ursula; Andres-Lacueva, Cristina (March 19, 2019). "Biomarkers of food intake for nuts and vegetable oils: an extensive literature search". Genes and Nutrition. 14 (1): 7. doi:10.1186/s12263-019-0628-8. PMC 6423890. PMID 30923582.
  11. ^ a b Souza, R. G. M.; Gomes, A. C.; Naves, M. M. V.; Mota, J. F. (April 16, 2015). "Nuts and legume seeds for cardiovascular risk reduction: scientific evidence and mechanisms of action". Nutrition Reviews. 73 (6): 335–347. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuu008. PMID 26011909.
  12. ^ Kornsteiner-Krenn, Margit; Wagner, Karl-Heinz; Elmadfa, Ibrahim (2013). "Phytosterol content and fatty acid pattern of ten different nut types". International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research. 83 (5): 263–270. doi:10.1024/0300-9831/a000168. PMID 25305221.
  13. ^ Ryan, E.; Galvin, K.; O'Connor, T. P.; Maguire, A. R.; O'Brien, N. M. (2006). "Fatty acid profile, tocopherol, squalene and phytosterol content of brazil, pecan, pine, pistachio and cashew nuts". International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. 57 (3–4): 219–228. doi:10.1080/09637480600768077. PMID 17127473. S2CID 22030871.
  14. ^ a b c "Bertholletia excelsa - Bonpl". Plants for a Future. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  15. ^ "Greenpeace Activists Trapped by Loggers in Amazon". Greenpeace. October 18, 2007. Archived from the original on December 22, 2010. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  16. ^ Moncrieff, Virginia M. (September 21, 2015). "A little logging may go a long way". Forest News. Center for International Forestry Research. Retrieved July 8, 2020 – via CIFOR.org.
  17. ^ de Oliveira Wadt, Lucia Helena; de Souza, Joana Maria Leite. "Árvore do Conhecimento – Castanha-do-Brasil" [Tree of Knowledge – Brazil nut]. Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (in Brazilian Portuguese).
  18. ^ Lim, T. K. (2012). Edible Medicinal And Non Medicinal Plants: Volume 3, Fruits. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-94-007-2534-8.
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