| Neutral | Monocromatico | On May 28, 2004, Monocromatico from Rio de Janeiro
Brazil (Zone 11) wrote:This plant comes from the Amazon Forest, a genuine tropical climbing shrub.
It is a comercially important plant, as it produces perharps the most popular beverage in Brazil, the Guaranį, an energetic and tasteful drink made from the powder obtained from the seeds. One of the most popular forms of this drink is the soda, that rivalizes with more traditional flavours, like cola or lemon.
The plant itself is a large shrub with long branches that can be educated as a climber, a la Bougainvillea. The leaves are pinate, and the flowers are unissexual, small, and white in dense panicles. The fruit is a round, red capsule that opens when ripe, showing a black and shiny seed engulfed by a fleshy white coat, making it look like an eye. The Guaranį powder is extracted from toasted seeds.
Unfortunately, it hardly can be cultivated outside a greenhouse out of the tropics because it demands very high temperatures, moisture and humidity. |
3 members have or want this plant for trade.
