Mucajá palm

The mucajá palm (acrocomia aculeata) is one of the most common palms and perhaps the largest at Bosque Santa Lúcia. As can be seen in the image, the crown is way up there, 15-20 meters, and yes, those formidable thorns are found from the bottom of the trunk to the very top of the palm. I remember having to cut one of these mucajá palms some years ago and I'll never forget that it was as hard as the steel axe I used to cut it. Maybe harder because the axe blade was actually contorted from the many blows it took to down the medium sized palm. I was a lot younger then but it took some time to get rid of the pains in my arm bones.