Ivory Palm
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The Ivory Palm genus (Phytelephas)
of trees contains six species of Palm Trees. This particular
genus of palms grows naturally in Ecuador, Peru and
Bolivia, and along the Andes mountains to south Panama.
As mentioned, the genus Phytelephas (which
means "plant elephant") is commonly referred
to as Ivory Palms. However, in some
regions they are also known as tagua palms
or ivory-nut palms. They are named such because
the outside of their seeds, known as tagua nuts, have
the same coloration as ivory, and are very hard.
Ivory Palm trees can grow to heights
of 20 m, making them one of the larger palm tree species,
but generally are shorter than that. The tagua nut has
a diameter of roughly 6 cm, and is covered by a flaky
skin which is brown, and then by a layer of pericarp.
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