Morete palms grow a cluster of maroon colored fruits. Between the large seed and hard scaley skin is an orange meat with a squashlike consistency and a pungent sweet taste. Moretes are prized as a fruit by humans birds and animals alike. When they are ripe the fruits drop to the ground. After being washed and softened in hot water the outer skin is peeled off and the meat consumed. Moretes bear fruit in December and January. In the wild moretes flourish in swampy areas where they become groves called a moretal or a morete cocha. The moretes are capable of actually growing in water for large parts of the year. Because the swamp limits access by hunters and the abundant fruit provides a wealth of food, moretales often becomes havens for mammals and birds such as macaws and other parrots. Moretales have an uncanny quality for many Amazonian people because they are identified as the home of anacondas with all their ambivalent religious significance.