''Myrciaria dubia'', commonly known as camu-camu, caçari, araçá-d'água, or camocamo, is a species of plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is a small bushy riverside tree from the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

in Peru and Brazil, which grows to a height of and bears a red/purple

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...

-like fruit. It is a close relative of the jabuticaba ('' Myrciaria cauliflora'') and the guavaberry or rumberry (''

Myrciaria floribunda ''Myrciaria floribunda'', commonly known as cambuizeiro, guavaberry or rumberry, is a species of plant in the family Myrtaceae. It can be found across South and Central America and the West Indies in dry or moist coastal woodlands, up to 300 metr ...

''). As much as 2-3% of the fresh fruit by weight is vitamin C.

Description

Camu-camu has small flowers with waxy white petals and a sweet-smelling aroma. It has bushy, feathery foliage. The evergreen, opposite leaves are lanceolate to elliptic. Individual leaves are in length and wide. The camu-camu fruit is maroon or purple-black when fully ripe, around 25mm in diameter, with either sweet or acidic flesh.

Native range

The current range of camu-camu consists of the Amazonian lowlands of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, Ecuador, Peru,

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, and Brazil. Its distribution extends from the center of Pará state, Brazil, along the mid and upper

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

to the eastern part of Peru; in the north, it appears in the

Casiquiare The Casiquiare river () is a distributary of the upper Orinoco flowing southward into the Rio Negro, in Venezuela, South America. As such, it forms a unique natural canal between the Orinoco and Amazon river systems. It is the world's largest ...

and the upper and middle Orinoco River. In Brazil, it is found in

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso, ...

along the Maçangana and Urupa Rivers and in Amazonas, in the municipalities of

Manaus Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...

and Manacapuru and along the Javarí, Madeira, and Negro Rivers.

Harvest

Long used by native peoples, wild camu-camu fruit is harvested directly into canoes. The fruit has only recently come into large-scale cultivation and sale to the world market, with

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

being the major buyer. The tree is relatively easy to cultivate within certain growing conditions. It survives best in hot, damp, tropical climates, but will grow in the subtropics, surviving temperatures down to just above freezing. It requires copious water. Fair trade is present in low-land production from the Association of Camu Camu Producers of the Peruvian Amazon. The tree occurs in locally dense populations or even monospecific stands in Amazonian flood plains and riparian vegetation. The plant is extremely tolerant of flooding, withstanding four to five months with the roots and even much of the aerial parts submerged in water. The species propagates through seeds. In cultivation, the tree begins bearing fruits after attaining in stem girth (three years after emergence of the seedling). Plants flower at the end of the dry season and produce fruit at the peak of the rainy season. Observations with both wild and cultivated plants suggest that the trees can remain productive for several decades. Wild trees have been found to yield of fruit on average. At suggested planting densities of 600–1100 trees per , about fruit may be derived in cultivation from one hectare.

Nutrition

Per 100 g of fresh fruit: *Protein 0.4 g *Carbohydrates 5.9 g *Starches 0.44 g *Sugars 1.28 g *Dietary Fiber 1.1 g *Fat 0.2 g *Calcium 15.7 mg *Copper 0.2 mg *Iron 0.53 mg *Magnesium 12.4 mg *Manganese 2.1 mg *Potassium 83.9 mg *Sodium 11.1 mg *Zinc 0.2 mg *Vitamin C: ranges from 1882–2280 mg depending on ripeness. Camu-camu has an extraordinarily high vitamin C content (on the order of 2–3% of fresh weight). Vitamin C content declines as full maturity is reached, with a trade-off between vitamin C and flavor expression. The fruit is rich in flavonoids, such as

anthocyanin Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical compo ...

s, flavonols,

flavanol Flavan-3-ols (sometimes referred to as flavanols) are a subgroup of flavonoids. They are derivatives of flavans that possess a 2-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-2''H''-chromen-3-ol skeleton. Flavan-3-ols are structurally diverse and include a range of compo ...

s, catechins,

delphinidin 3-glucoside Myrtillin is an anthocyanin. It is the 3-glucoside of delphinidin. It can be found in all green plants, most abundantly in blackcurrant, blueberry, huckleberry, bilberry leaves and in various myrtles, roselle plants, and '' Centella asiatica'' p ...

cyanidin 3-glucoside Chrysanthemin is an anthocyanin. It is the 3- glucoside of cyanidin. Natural occurrences Chrysanthemin can be found in the roselle plant (''Hibiscus sabdariffa'', Malvaceae), different Japanese angiosperms, '' Rhaponticum'' (Asteraceae), The ...

, ellagic acid, and rutin. Other analysis revealed the presence of gallic and ellagic acids, suggesting that the fruit possesses hydrolyzed tannins (

gallotannin A gallotannin is any of a class of molecules belonging to the hydrolysable tannins. Gallotannins are polymers formed when gallic acid, a polyphenol monomer, esterifies and binds with the hydroxyl group of a polyol carbohydrate such as glucose. Meta ...

and

ellagitannins The ellagitannins are a diverse class of hydrolyzable tannins, a type of polyphenol formed primarily from the oxidative linkage of galloyl groups in 1,2,3,4,6-pentagalloyl glucose. Ellagitannins differ from gallotannins, in that their galloyl group ...

Uses

Documentation of traditional camu-camu uses is scarce. In traditional Amazonian societies, camu-camu is not likely to have ever been nutritionally relevant except for its vitamin C content. The fruit is extremely acidic and the flavor much like a sour grape with a large pit. The fruit is often used to make a very pink juice with a little sugar (like lemonade). A reddish pigment in the leathery skin of the fruit imparts a pink color on juices extracted from camu-camu. The aroma is subtle, but is not so captivating as in more popular fruits. Recently, camu-camu is used in ice creams and sweets and processed powder from the fruit pulp is beginning to be sold in the west as a health food in loose powder or capsule form. Native Amazonian groups living on the banks of the Nanay River in the

Loreto region Loreto () is Peru's northernmost department and region. Covering almost one-third of Peru's territory, Loreto is by far the nation's largest department; it is also one of the most sparsely populated regions due to its remote location in the Ama ...

of Peru, have been reported as using camu-camu as a traditional remedy for the treatment of malaria.

Conservation issues

Overharvesting of wild camu-camu threatens to make it an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

. Efforts are underway to encourage commercial growing of camu-camu in the Amazon River basin.

References

External links

Conservation issues
with pictures of the tree, fruits, and harvest method.
''Myrciaria dubia'' List of Chemicals (Dr. Duke's Database)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1031775 dubia Trees of Brazil Trees of Peru Trees of the Amazon Crops originating from Peru Berries Trees of South America Crops originating from the Americas Tropical fruit Flora of South America Fruits originating in South America Fruit trees