Butia marmorii

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Butia (boo-TEE-ah)
marmorii (mahr-mohr'-ee)
Post-90-12736113853264.jpg
Nova Odessa, Brazil. Dr. Harri Lorenzi's PLANTARUM, Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora LTDA. Photo by Al in Kona.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Butia (boo-TEE-ah)
Species:
marmorii (mahr-mohr'-ee)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
America
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Morphology
Habit: Solitary & acaulescent.
Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
yatay poñy

Habitat and Distribution

Known from a small area in Alto Parana, Paraguay in the vicinity of the village of Cia Laguna.
Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Alberto Leonardo Barkema.
A collection from Instituto de Botánica Darwinion (SI) confirms a population of more robust plants as far south as San Ignacio, Misiones, Argentina and digital images taken in the field corroborate its presence as far north as Três Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Cerrado scrub, in open grassy areas between the taller cerrado plants, restricted to the medium to tall grasses rather than in the adjacent low weedy scrub. Plants in full sun were more productive than those in shade. The terrain is nearly flat with gentle slopes and with a red sandy, lateritic soil. Palms had developing and mature fruit in February, and several were continuing to flower. (L. Noblick, The grassy Butia: Two new species and a new combination. 2006)

Description

Stem solitary acaulescent, subterranean 10–20 cm in diam. with persistent leaf bases. Leaves 3–5 in the crown, spirally arranged and spreading; leaf sheath plus petiole about 2–15 cm long, adaxially channeled and abaxially rounded, and glabrous; petiole not including the leaf sheath less than 1 cm (0.4–0.5) cm long and 0.5–0.7 wide and 0.1–0.2 cm thick at the base of the leaf blade; leaf rachis 23–51 cm long with about 9–18 pairs of leaflets distributed evenly along the rachis; basal leaflets about 11–31 cm long × 0.1–0.3 cm wide, middle leaflets about 24–44 cm long × 0.4–0.7 cm wide, apical leaflets about 17–31 cm long × 0.1–0.3 cm wide. Inflorescence interfoliar, unbranched or branched to 1 order, peduncle 4.5–9.0 cm long × 0.3–0.5 cm wide × 0.1–0.5 cm thick; peduncular bract with a total length of about 8–19 (–40) cm with no apparent beak and the expanded or inflated part of the bract measuring ca. 4.0–12.5 (–18) cm long × 0.3–1.1 (–2.5) cm in width and with a 1.2–3.0 cm perimeter and a 0.5 mm thickness, very thin or thicker, but not as thin as onion skin and never translucent; rachis 0–1 cm long; rachillae 1–8, apical ones about 2.8–7.0 cm long and basal ones about 3–7 cm. Flowers dark purple to pale yellow with purplish tinge; staminate flowers near the base about 4.5–5.5 mm long × 2 mm wide, sessile, basal ones frequently short pedicellate with pseudopedicels about 1–1.5 mm long; sepals 3, distinct, linear triangular, connate at base forming a pseudo-pedicel, acute, sclerenchymous at the base but membranous near the tip, glabrous; petals 3 distinct, unequal, obovate, valvate, membranous, glabrous, with distinct venation, about 3.5–3.8 × 2.0–2.5 mm, acute; stamens 6, pale yellow, distinct, 2.5 mm long, with filaments 1.5 mm long, pistillode trifid, less than 0.5 mm long. Pistillate flowers, conical, sessile; sepals, glabrous, with no visible venation except at the margins and tip, sclerenchymous, imbricate, ca. 5.0–6.5 × 2.5–3.0 mm, unequal, acute, faintly keeled at tip; petals 3, distinct, imbricate at base, valvate at apex, triangular, obscurely nerved, glabrous, 3.2–5.5 × about 2.3–3.0 mm, acute; gynoecium 2.5–3.0 mm long × 1.0 mm wide, glabrous. Fruits purple when mature, 1.2–2 cm long × 1.2–1.5 cm in diam., ovoid; cupule (persistent perianth) greenish brown, about 0.6–0.8 cm in diam. × about 0.4 cm high; petals slightly longer that sepals, staminodial ring truncate, 0.5 mm high × 2.5 mm in diam.; epicarp dark purple when mature, smooth and glabrous; mesocarp pale yellow, fleshy, non-fibrous about 1–2 mm thick; endocarp nearly spherical to elliptical, about 1.0–1.8 × ca. 1.0–1.3 cm., about 1 mm or less thick (about 0.5 mm thick), hard, bony, dark brown to nearly black, apex with no distinctive protuberance or beak, interior smooth, monovittate, round in cross-section, outer surface nearly smooth, pores subequatorial, 3 nearly even with surface, sutures visible; seed 1, spherical to elliptical, 8–9 mm long × 5–6 mm in diam., endosperm white, homogeneous. Germination remote tubular, eophyll simple, narrowly lanceolate. (L. Noblick, The grassy Butia: Two new species and a new combination. 2006)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.

Butia marmorii is distinct from B. leptospatha in having branched vs. spicate inflorescences, thicker opaque bracts vs. translucent onion skin-like bracts, smaller pistillate flowers (4.5–6.0 mm vs. 7–8 mm long) and shorter peduncles (4.5–9.0 cm vs. 8.5–24 cm long). Butia marmorii is easily separated from B. microspadix by its glabrous to lepidote vs. tomentose bracts and 2–4 (–8) vs. 12–17 inflorescence branches/ (L. Noblick, The grassy Butia: Two new species and a new combination. 2006)/Palmweb.

Culture

Comments and Curiosities

Etymology: The specific epithet honors its discoverer, Itaipu botanist, Guillermo Caballero Marmori.

Conservation: The site has been excavated for road work and threatened by pasture land. By 2004 soybean fields were encroaching on the site; the area is not expected to survive. Luckily, Marmori discovered another site within 2 km of Cia Laguna, but none of the areas is legally protected, and the palms remain threatened. (L. Noblick, The grassy Butia: Two new species and a new combination. 2006)/Palmweb.



External Links

References

Phonetic spelling of Latin names by edric.

Special thanks to Geoff Stein, (Palmbob) for his hundreds of photos.

Special thanks to Palmweb.org, Dr. John Dransfield, Dr. Bill Baker & team, for their volumes of information and photos.

Glossary of Palm Terms; Based on the glossary in Dransfield, J., N.W. Uhl, C.B. Asmussen-Lange, W.J. Baker, M.M. Harley & C.E. Lewis. 2008. Genera Palmarum - Evolution and Classification of the Palms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. All images copyright of the artists and photographers (see images for credits).

L. Noblick, The grassy Butia: Two new species and a new combination. 2006


Many Special Thanks to Ed Vaile for his long hours of tireless editing and numerous contributions.

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