Although macauba palm (Acrocomia acu-leata) is a palm native to neotropics with widedistribution in Brazil and has significant potential forbiofuel production, little is known regarding itsvariability and adaptability to environment. The aimof this study was to investigate the association ofmacauba palm phenotypes to soil attributes and otherenvironmental factors. Macauba palms from 18 loca-tions of three geomorphological provinces from thestate of Sa ̃o Paulo, Brazil, were evaluated regardingchemical, physical and morphological soil attributesand plant morphological attributes. Data were ana-lyzed by uni- and multivariate statistics. Univariatestatistical analysis showed that there is great variabil-ity of botanical components due to soil fertility,particle size distribution and drainage and to atmo-spheric climate conditions. Principal component anal-ysis identified the botanical variables fruit weight andsize and palm tree circumference at chest height, andthe soil variables organic matter of A horizon contentsof sand and clay, and exchangeable calcium,manganese, copper, potassium and phosphorus fromsubsurface horizons as those with the greatest contri-bution in distinguishing the studied environments.Redundancy analysis identified total sand—inverselyassociated to water retention—pH—directly influ-enced by exchangeable bases—and micronutrients Znand Mn from subsurface horizons, together with soilorganic matter from A horizon, as those most associ-ated to the botanical variables fruit weight and size.These associations show that soil fertility and particlesize distribution are determining factors for theproductive potential of macauba palm.

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• Non-biotic factors determining plasticity of the prospectiveoil-rich macauba palm (Acrocomia aculeata)