PEKEA, a genus of plants inhabiting Guiana, of the genus Caryocar of modern botanists, and which might advantageously be introduced into India. Catyocar nuciferum hears the Suwarrow or Saouari nuts of commerce. The fruit is in form like an egg, covered with a thick rough brown rind, beneath which is a soft greenish buttery substance. The nut has a stinging surface, and contains a very excellent kernel, from which may be extracted an oil like that from sweet almonds.
P. butyrosa is a large tree with a trunk 80 feet high, and 3 feet in diameter. The berries are covered by a rind 2 or 3 lines thick, and con sisting internally of a buttery yellow substance, which melts between the fingers, and which is sometimes used in cooking instead of animal butter. Under the rind lies a stone covered all over with slender stings, which easily separate, and become very troublesome to those who open the stones ; within is a kidney-shaped kernel covered with a brownish membrane, and very good to eat ; it is commonly served at table. It
is called Pekea by the blacks in the neighbourhood of Oyapoco in French Guiana, where it is much cultivated.
P. tuberculosa, Aublet, the Caryocar tomen tosum of modern botanists, is a very large tree inhabiting the woods of Guiana, where it is called Tatayouba by the Garipou Indians. The fruit consists of greenish compressed drupes. which adhere around a common centre, and contain a single seed of large size, covered with a brownish rugged woody shell, and enclosing a kernel of a soft consistence, and of the most delicate buttery quality. It is much superior to English walnuts, almonds, and filberts. Differs in having no stings upon the surface of the stone of its fruits.