“Attalea táam” is the name of the new palm tree.Image: www.imago-images.de
Mar 18, 2026, 4:36 p.mMar 18, 2026, 4:36 p.m
Two researchers from the University of Zurich have discovered and described a previously unknown species of palm tree in the jungle of Colombia. In collaboration with the local indigenous community, they mapped their occurrence, as the university announced on Wednesday.
The newly discovered palm tree is called “Attalea táam” and grows around the area of the indigenous Cacua community near Wacará in the Vaupés department in southeastern Colombia. The university writes that the region can only be reached via a long boat trip and a two-hour walk.
“Not a coincidence”
“It is pure coincidence that we discovered the new palm species,” one of the discoverers, PhD student Juan Carlos Copete, is quoted as saying in the statement. Together with Rodrigo Cámara-Leret, professor at the Institute for Systematic and Evolutionary Botany at the University of Zurich, he was invited by indigenous people to have a snack with palm fruits that were unknown to them.
Together with Cacua elders and a young hunter, they found the wild palm trees growing in the forest. Plant material was collected and documented.
The new species, named after its cacua name, can be recognized by its trunk with distinct orange-brown ring-shaped leaf scars. The palm trees can grow up to 23 meters high. The egg-shaped fruits need to ripen for about a year to be edible. (sda)