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In Brazil, cutting down a Brazil nut tree (typically with the intent of harvesting lumber and Brazil nuts) is illegal, unless done with previous authorization from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources. Capuchin monkeys have been reported to open Brazil nuts using a stone as an anvil. Most of the seeds are "planted" by the agoutis in caches during wet season, 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. 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. The capsule contains a small hole at one end, which enables large rodents like the agouti to gnaw it open. 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). 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. 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). The fruit takes 14 months to mature after pollination of the flowers. Brazil nuts have been harvested from plantations, but production is low and is currently not economically viable. The fruit is heavy and rigid when the fruits fall, they pose a serious threat to vehicles and people passing under the tree.īrazil 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. It occurs as scattered trees in large forests on the banks of the Amazon River, Rio Negro, Tapajós, and the Orinoco.Īs a result, they can be found outside production areas, in the backyards of homes and near roads and streets in the Northern and Northeastern Brazil. The Brazil nut is native to the Guianas, Venezuela, Brazil, eastern Colombia, eastern Peru, and eastern Bolivia. 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. The leaves are dry-season deciduous, alternate, simple, entire or crenate, oblong, 20–35 cm (8–14 in) long, and 10–15 cm (4–6 in) broad. The stem is straight and commonly without branches for well over half the tree's height, with a large, emergent crown of long branches above the surrounding canopy of other trees. It may live for 500 years or more, and can often reach a thousand years of age. The Brazil nut is a large tree, reaching 50 m (160 ft) tall and with a trunk 1 to 2 m (3 ft 3 in to 6 ft 7 in) in diameter, making it among the largest of trees in the Amazon rainforest.