Acai

Açaí palm
A tree at the Lauro Sodré Palace in Brazil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Genus:	Euterpe
Species:	E. oleracea
Binomial name
Euterpe oleracea Mart.
Synonyms
Euterpe brasiliana Oken Catis martiana O.F.Cook Euterpe badiocarpa Barb.Rodr. Euterpe beardii L.H.Bailey Euterpe cuatrecasana Dugand

The açaí palm (/əˈsaɪ.iː/, Portuguese: [asaˈi] (listen), from Nheengatu asai), Euterpe oleracea, is a species of palm tree (Arecaceae) cultivated for its fruit (açaí berries, or simply açaí), hearts of palm (a vegetable), leaves, and trunk wood. Global demand for the fruit has expanded rapidly in the 21st century, and the tree is cultivated for that purpose primarily.

The species is native to Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, mainly in swamps and floodplains. Açaí palms are tall, slender trees growing to more than 25 m (82 ft) tall, with pinnate leaves up to 3 m (9.8 ft) long. The fruit is small, round, and black-purple in color. The fruit became a staple food in floodplain areas around the 18th century, but its consumption in urban areas and promotion as a health food only began in the mid 1990s along with the popularization of other Amazonian fruits outside the region.