The fruit, commonly known as açaí or açaí berry, is a small, round, black-purple drupe about 25 mm (1 in) in circumference, similar in appearance to a grape, but smaller and with less pulp and produced in branched panicles of 500 to 900 fruits. Its specific epithet oleracea means 'vegetable' in Latin and is a form of holeraceus ( oleraceus). The tree fed the tribe and was called açaí because that was the daughter's name (Iaçá) spelled backwards. When his own daughter gave birth and the child was sacrificed, she cried and died beneath a newly sprouted tree. The folklore says that chief Itaqui ordered all newborns put to death owing to a period of famine. The importance of the fruit as a staple food in the Amazon River delta gives rise to the local legend of how the plant got its name. The common name comes from the Portuguese adaptation of the Tupian word ĩwasa'i, meaning ' cries or expels water'.

The fruit became a staple food in floodplain areas around the 18th century, but its consumption in urban areas and promotion as a health food only began in the mid 1990s along with the popularization of other Amazonian fruits outside the region. The fruit is small, round, and black-purple in color.

Açaí palms are tall, slender trees growing to more than 25 m (82 ft) tall, with pinnate leaves up to 3 m (9.8 ft) long. The species is native to eastern Amazonia, especially in Brazil, mainly in swamps and floodplains. Global demand for the fruit has expanded rapidly in the 21st century, and the tree is cultivated for that purpose primarily. iː/, Portuguese: ⓘ, from Nheengatu asai), Euterpe oleracea, is a species of palm tree ( Arecaceae) cultivated for its fruit (açaí berries, or simply açaí), hearts of palm (a vegetable), leaves, and trunk wood.

Acai berry ipulse