brazil nut (redirected from Brazil-nut)

Brazil nut, common name for the Lecythidaceae, a family of tropical trees. It includes the anchovy pear (Grias cauliflora), a West Indian species with edible fruit used for pickles, and several lumber trees of South America, e.g., the cannon-ball tree (Couroupita guianensis), some species of Barringtonia, and the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa). The latter is found chiefly in Brazil along the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, but extensive groves have also been planted in N Bolivia. The edible Brazil nuts grow clumped together in large, round, woody and extremely hard seed pods the size of a large grapefruit. The meat of the seed (the "nut") is very rich in oil. The Brazil nut family is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Lecythidales.

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Brazil nut

Edible seed of a large South American tree, Bertholletia excelsa (family Lecythidaceae), and one of the major commercially traded nuts in the world. The hard-walled fruit, resembling a large coconut, contains 8–24 nuts (seeds) arranged in it like sections of an orange. Each nut has a very hard shell and is three-sided in shape. Brazil nuts are high in fat and protein and taste somewhat like almond or coconut. The tree grows wild in stands in the Amazon River basin, reaching heights of 150 ft (45 m) or more.

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brazil nut

1. a tropical South American tree, Bertholletia excelsa, producing large globular capsules, each containing several closely packed triangular nuts: family Lecythidaceae

2. the nut of this tree, having an edible oily kernel and a woody shell