Vegetable Ivory or Tagua Nut

Tagua nut or vegetable ivory, is a palm native of the tropical rainforests of South America.  Tagua is usually found in groups in swampy territory within the forest.  The palms grow up to 65ft tall and produce an average of sixteen knobbly fruits. The brown fruits are very large, with a a hard and spiky shell containing the nuts. There are about thirty nuts per spike, each nut can measure up to four inches.
The cultivation, preservation and sustainable harvesting of these trees is highly encouraged and the seeds are picked up after they naturally fall to the ground. The nuts are left to dry under the sun for a few weeks allowing the cellulose pulp to turn to ivory. Since tagua can be died, cut, sliced, carved and lathed it is widely used by artisans to make jewelry and other handicrafts.
Tagua has a great economic value and it is considered a renewable resource. Since vegetable ivory is almost indistinguishable from animal ivory  it assists with elephant conservation.

History and Interesting facts
Tagua belongs to the Kingdom Plantae. It is an Angiosperm and it belongs to the Arecaceae Family. Its Genus is Phytelephas which literally means "plant elephant", so far there are six species of Tagua Palms.
Phytelephas aequatorialis – Ecuadorean Ivory Palm
Phytelephas macrocarpa – Large-fruited Ivory Palm
Phytelephas schottii – Colombian Ivory Palm
Phytelephas seemannii
Phytelephas tenuicaulis
Phytelephas tumacana

In the 1920's Tagua was widely used for crafts and in the fasion industry. About twenty percent of buttons world wide were made out of tagua; however, low-priced synthetic buttons replaced the tagua buttons market.