Piton (Grias neuberthii) fruit growing off the tree trunk Napo Wildlife Centre Yasuni National Park Amazonian Rainforest Ecuador

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Grias neuberthii is a large tree native to the western Amazonian rainforest (Ecuador, Columbia and Peru). The waxy flowers and big round fruit are borne out of the bark where they are easily accessible to the bees and beetles that pollinate them. The Quechua people of the Pastaza River in Loreto, Peru, call this tree sacha mangua (meaning mango from the wild forest) and use a stem infusion as a purifying emetic to treat malaria. Grias neuberthii also demonstrates a high level of antioxidant activity and is currently being tested by food science researchers to use as a natural preservative to prevent lipid oxidation, one of the main problems that may occur in foods during processing. credit to Lindsay Bourque Common names: Colombia: cocora, cocorro, kokora (Prance & Mori, 1979). Ecuador: piton (Prance & Mori, 1979). Peru: mangua (Prance & Mori, 1979), sachamangua (meaning mango from the wild forest) (Prance & Mori, 1979; Smith et al., 2007).

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Size: 3406px × 5120px
Location: Napo Wildlife Centre Yasuni National Park Amazonian Region Ecuador South America May
Photo credit: © Krystyna Szulecka / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: amazon, amazonian, america, anangu, centre, ecuador, ecuadorian, fruit, fruits, grias, napo, national, neuberthii, park, piton, plant, plants, region, south, tree, trees, trunk, trunks, wildlife, yasuni