Ceroxylon peruvianum

(Ceroxylon (seh-ROKS-ih-lon) peruvianum (pehr-oo-vee-AHN-uhs)
Peru. Photo-Rare Palm Seeds.com
Scientific Classification
Genus: (Ceroxylon (seh-ROKS-ih-lon) Species: peruvianum (pehr-oo-vee-AHN-uhs)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
America
Morphology
Habit: Solitary Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
Pona (Peru).

Habitat and Distribution

Peru. Eastern slopes of the northern Peruvian Andes, in humid premontane to montane

Peru. Photo-Rare Palm Seeds.com

forest at 1500-2300 m, in areas currently heavily deforested to establish agricultural activities, where it remains as isolated individuals on forest fragments or in the middle of the farms.

Description

Stem 8-12 m tall, 20-26 cm n diameter, silver to light grey with thin layer of wax. Leaves 13-21, in a hemispheric crown; sheath 130-168 cm long, 5-7 cm wide at apex, with scarcely fibrous margins, covered with white tomentum; petiole 25-60 cm long, 3.5-8.0 cm wide, flat to convex, green and with scarce indumentum above, convex and densely covered with white to light brown tomentum below; rachis 240-362 cm long, adaxially flattened in ca. 2/3 of its length, abaxially covered with thick, white tomentum; pinnae 96-140 on each side, irregularly arranged in groups of 2-6, inserted in several planes, usually the proximal pinnae ascendant, the distal descendent, pinnae stiff up to the middle of their length, then pendulous, apex slightly asymmetric, midrib prominent, adaxial surface glabrous, glossy, dark olive green, abaxial surface covered with thin, white to yellowish indumentum, sometimes revealing the pinnae surface in between files; lowermost, filiform pinnae 7.0-41.5 × 0.2-1.0 cm, basal pinnae (10th pair, from base) 37-51 × 0.8-1.3 cm, middle pinnae 63-93 × 3.5-5.0 cm, apical pinnae 21-46 × 0.7-3.0 cm, 2-9 apical pinnae united along margins. Staminate inflorescences: peduncle 48-67 cm long, 4 cm wide at base; peduncular bracts 149.0-169.5 × 23-27 cm; rachis 81-102 cm long, with 72-99 branches, the longest branches up to 42 cm long. Pistillate inflorescences 144 cm in the fruiting stage; peduncle 62-90 cm long, 5.7 cm wide at apex; prophyll 31 cm long; peduncular bracts up to 118-220 cm long; rachis 77-134 cm, with 61-78 first order branches, the longest ones 79 cm long. Staminate flowers: sepals 3, ovate, 1 mm long, connate for ½ their length, lobes reaching ½ to the total height of the corolla tube; petals 3, ovate-acuminate, 4-7 mm long, including a 1 mm acumen, connate up to 1.0-1.5 mm (1/6-1/4 of their length); stamens 12-15, 3-9 episepalous and 6-9 epipetalous, filaments 1.0-1.5 mm long, anther 2.0-2.2 mm long, round at apex. Pistillate flowers not seen. Fruits globose, 2.0-2.3 cm long, 2.0-2.2 cm wide, green turning red when ripe, mature exocarp densely covered with irregular and acute bulges; fruiting perianth with a persistent calyx about 1 mm long, reaching ½ the total height of the corolla tube; petals 4-5 mm long, connate for up to 2 mm (1/3-½ their length). Seeds about 1.5 cm in diam. (John Dransfield in Phytotaxa 34 (2011))/Palmweb. Editing by edric.

Ceroxylon peruvianum is very distinctive in its irregularly arranged pinnae, combined with staminate flowers bearing 12 - 15 stamens, and the exocarp densely covered with acute bulges. (John Dransfield in Phytotaxa 34 (2011))/Palmweb.

Culture

"Germination of Ceroxylon."

1.) soak seeds in tap water for 24-48h (our tap water is chlorinated).

2.) rinse, and soak in a dilution of copper fungicide for 10 minutes.

3.) place in zip lock bag with wetted coconut fiber, slightly drained.

4.) zip lock goes in greenhouse where it sees daily temp fluctuation of 45 F night, 85 F day, slightly dampened out by laying on top of soil and out of direct sunlight. (Dr. Axel Kratel)

Cold Hardiness Zone: 9a

Comments and Curiosities

Uses: Cultivated as an ornamental plant, in towns and farms. The stems are used for posts, fences and house construction; the leaves are occasionally used for thatching and the fruits are fed to pigs.

A spectacular, new species of Ceroxylon, described only recently from northeastern Peru. Similar to C. echinulatum, it forms a slender, whitish trunk topped by a spreading crown of dark green, lightly plumose leaves that have countless leaflets with elegantly drooping tips. It covers a wide range of altitudes in montane rainforests and will likely adapt to cultivation in cool tropical and warm temperate climates as easily as C. amazonicum or C. echinulatum. (RPS.com)