The pejibaye, Bactris gasipaes H.B.K., is an important fruit common insome areas of the American Tropics and unknown in others. It is a palm nativeto South American forests, and was introduced to Central America in pre-Columbian times, but is still seldom found in the Caribbean and other tropicalareas. The palm has several spiny trunks that each bear several multifruitedpanicles yearly. The fruits contain a single seed. The trees are usuallypropagated from seeds, but better techniques are needed to preserve selectedtrees as clones. The trees are adapted to a wide variety of tropical soils andclimates, and so far, few important diseases have been found. When mature,the fruits are harvested by a variety of techniques, none of which is verysatisfactory. Harvested fruit is easily damaged and damaged fruits rot rapidly.Mature fruits are boiled, and the pulp is eaten fresh, made into a meal, or macerated to make a drink. The seed is also edible. The palm cabbage is alsoharvested, usually from old trunks that are being removed anyway