By Jack Ewing
“Look what I found,” beamed the tractor driver, “a palmito from a chonta palm.It’s the first one I’ve seen in a long time.”
The cylindrical palm heart about a meter long rested on his shoulder. He didn’t seem the least bit troubled that the tree he had destroyed to acquire the palm heart might have been the last one in the forest.
Sometimes called, the “Walking Palm,” the chonta’s versatility may be the reason for its near extinction. It has been used to make everything from water pipes to wallboards, and its fruits are eaten by many different birds and animals.
Additionally, the slightly bitter palm heart has been much sought after. The first water systems in this region were made with the hollow trunks of chonta palms, which were split lengthwise, overlapped, and supported by the forks of tree branches to form a continuous, slightly elevated, open gutter where water could flow down a hill. Many trunks were needed to take water several hundred meters. The fibrous trunk also made excellent wallboard, and was even used in the construction of beds. Over the years many thousands of these interesting trees have been cut. Its versatility may have brought about its demise.
Fortunately, today we move water down a hill in PVC tubing, manufacture wallboard, and produce palmito in plantations of pejibaye. These alternatives have taken the pressure off the chonta palm, and hopefully the tree will recover.
There are several dozen of them at Hacienda Barú.
