Bactris maraja Mart.

A clump forming palm. It has an underground creeping rhizome. The trunks are 4-8 m high and 3-5 cm across. They are covered with dense rings of flattened black spines. Each crown has several leaves. These are 1.5-3 m long. The leaflets point forward and droop. They are shiny and mid green. The midrib is spiny. There are black prickles along the edges of the leaflets. The flowering stalks are 30-50 cm long. The flowers are yellowish. The fruit are rounded and purple-black. They are about 1.5 cm across. The fruit are acid.

A tropical plant. It grows in forest usually on non flooded soils. It grows at low elevations but can be up to 1000 m altitude.

The fruit are edible. The fruit are used for wine.

Plants are grown from seed.