Orange / Red seeds in Palm Trees?

Question

I was in Costa Rica last October. While driving on a country road, I passed by a large grove of palm trees that appeared to be agricultural.

Occasionally, on the road, parts of the palm trees that were harvested were scattered, having fallen from trucks (I guess). Some of these were split open and had spilled bright red-orange seeds all over the road. What variety of palm could this be? What were the seeds, or whatever they were, used for?

Answer 1

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu5865nZIxo...

Answer 2

You have seen the the groves of peach  palm with scientific name, Bactris gasipaes.

The orange red fruits are the  fruits that are edible and highly prized .

click on the links below for more info / pictures -

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactris_gas...

http://ohpanama.com/uploaded_images/pixb...

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-67581-201_90007...

If it is not the one mentioned above then it could be Date palm with Date fruits that are equally if not more impotrant .

The scientific name is Phoenix dactylifera

http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=12419&re...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_dac...