The Açai tree, Euterpe Oleracea Martius, is a slender palm that grows 15-20m tall and is native to the nutrient-rich floodplains of the Amazon, especially the Amazon river estuary. Several individual açai palm shoots grow out of a single root. This gives the açai palm a distinctive, attractive look which is why it is often used as an ornamental plant in urban areas of the Amazon and the rest of Brazil. In the rural areas of the Amazon the açai palm tree is an important natural resource. All of its components have specific uses: Its leaves are used to make thatched roofs, the branched twigs on which the açai fruits grow become natural brooms and the hard, round seeds of the açai berry are recycled as organic fertilizer and increasingly used to make necklaces, bracelets and other handicrafts. Furthermore, besides bearing the açai berry, the açai palm is also famous for its soft, inner core, namely the palm hearts that are used in salads and other "gourmet" dishes. In areas in which the açai fruit is of primary economic importance, the palm hearts are extracted in a rational fashion: only the older palm shoots are cut and only in such quantities as to allow the palm tree to replace them with new ones. Unfortunately, rational extraction is not always the rule: often all the palm shoots are cut and, as a result, the açai palm dies.