Copernicia alba

Copernicia alba is a South American species of palm tree, which is found in the Humid Chaco ecoregion in Bolivia, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil (in the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul) and Argentina (especially the province of Formosa, and less abundantly towards drier areas).

The leaves are persistent, grouped at the apex of the trunk, and measuring between 40 and 70 cm.

Each flower has three ovaries, of which only one develops into a globular fruit, a dark pulpous berry that contains a light-brown, 12-mm-long ovoid seed.

Young specimens have a lightweight semihard wood, which becomes hard and heavier in mature individuals, reaching a relative density up to 0.92.

This wood finds its main use in telephone and electrical line poles.

Copernicia alba in the Paraguay river basin, 1892.