Geonoma ferruginea
Geonoma (geo-NO-mah) ferruginea (fehr-roo-jihn-EH-ah) | |||||||
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2008 Biennial, Costa Rica. Rain Forest Aerial Tram, Braulio Carrillo National Park. Photo by Ryan D. Gallivan, of Searle Brothers Nursery Florida. | |||||||
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Contents
Habitat and Distribution
Central America in Guatemala (Izabal), Honduras (Yoro), Nicaragua (Boco, Rio San Juan, Zelaya), Costa Rica (Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Puntarenas, San Jose), and Panama (Ciriqui); Premontane to Montane rain forest, at (100-) 700-1400 m elevation. Nicaragua From 12°15-13°47'N and 84°59-85°52'W in Nicaragua at 956 (350-1500) m elevation in lowland to montane tropical rainforest. The species has a disjunct distribution, and occurs in two areas - Nicaragua and Costa Rica, with outlying specimens in Honduras and Guatemala. Within Costa Rica, there is an isolated, lower elevation subgroup from the Sarapiquí valley. Apart from the outliers, there are three subgroups based on geography.There are only three specimens from Honduras and Guatemala -too few for analysis-and these outliers are unplaced for subspecies.(Henderson, A.J. (2011) A revision of Geonoma. Phytotaxa 17: 1-271.)Description
Stems clustering often caespitose forming lage clumps, 1-4 m tall and 2-2.5 cm in diameter, light brown. Blade 50 to 60 cm long, usually regularly divided into 3 sickle-shaped leaflets per side, occational 10-15 per side, narrow leaflets present, inflorescence borne between the leaves, branched to 1 to 2 orders; peduncle 5-9 cm long; flowering branches 4-13, short and thick, less than 10 cm long and 2-3.5 mm thick, becoming reddish in fruit, pits denesly and spirally arranged; fruits globose, slightly pointed at apex, 6-7 mm in diameter; mature fruit; black. (Henderson, A.J. (2011) A revision of Geonoma. Phytotaxa 17: 1-271.) Editing by edric.
Detailed Scientific Description |
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Plam 2.(1.0-4.0) m tall; stems 2.2 (1.0-5.0) m tall, 1.0 (0.5-1.6) cm in diameter, solitary or clustered, canelike; internodes 2.7 (0.8-6.2) cm long, yellowish and smooth. Leaves 9 per stem, irregularly pinnate, not plicate, bases of the blades running diagonally into the rachis; sheaths 12.3 (7.3-17.3) cm long; petioles 16.5 (6.0?45.0) cm long, drying green or yellowish; rachis 30.7 (16.5?53.0) cm long, 2.7 (1.4-4.7) mm in diameter; veins raised and rectangular in cross-section adaxially; pinnae 4 (3-15) per side of rachis; basal pinna 19.2 (11.7-28.0) cm long, 2.6 (0.5-8.0) cm wide, forming an angle of 65 (35?95)° with the rachis; apical pinna 14.8 (8.6-23.0) cm long, 9.3 (1.4-16.5) cm wide, forming an angle of 36 (20?45)° with the rachis. Inflorescences branched 1-3 orders; prophylls and peduncular bracts not ribbed with elongate, unbranched fibers, flattened, deciduous; prophylls 7.5 (4.7-12.2) cm long, short, asymmetrically apiculate, the margins curved around the stem, the surfaces flat with dense, felty, brown tomentum, prophyll equal to and early deciduous with the peduncular bract, the surfaces not ridged, without unequally wide ridges; peduncular bracts 7.3 (5.3-11.5) cm long, well-developed, inserted 0.3 (0.1-0.5) cm above the prophyll; peduncles 6.4 (3.7-10.7) cm long, 3.7 (1.9-6.8) mm in diameter; rachillae 15 (5-38), 8.2 (3.8-15.0) cm long, 2.5(1.5-4.0) mm in diameter, the surfaces without spiky, fibrous projections or ridges, drying brown or yellow-brown, without short, transverse ridges, not filiform and not narrowed between the flower pits; flower pits spirally arranged, glabrous internally; proximal lips without a central notch before anthesis, not recurved after anthesis, not hood-shaped; proximal and distal lips drying the same color as the rachillae, not joined to form a raised cupule, the proximal lip margins overlapping the distal lip margins; distal lips well-developed; staminate and pistillate petals not emergent, not valvate throughout; staminate flowers deciduous after anthesis; stamens 6; thecae diverging at anthesis, inserted onto bifid and well-developed, non-jointed connectives; anthers short and curled over at anthesis; non-fertilized pistillate flowers deciduous after anthesis; staminodial tubes crenulate or shallowly lobed at the apex, those of non-fertilized pistillate flowers not projecting and persistent after anthesis; fruits 6.9 (5.2?9.3) mm long, 5.4 (4.2-7.3) mm in diameter, the bases without a prominent stipe, the apices not conical, the surfaces not splitting at maturity, without fibers emerging, bumpy from the numerous, subepidermal, tangential, short fibers present, these coming to a point at fruit apices; locular epidermis without operculum, smooth, without pores. (Henderson, A.J. (2011) A revision of Geonoma. Phytotaxa 17: 1-271.)/Palmweb. Inflorescences rachillae 17 (9-30), 7.5 ( 5.5-9.5) cm long. (Henderson, A.J. (2011) A revision of Geonoma. Phytotaxa 17: 1-271.)/Palmweb. ANOVA shows that for pair wise comparison probabilities, 13 variables (stem diameter, rachis length, rachis width, pinnae number, basal pinna width, basal pinna angle, apical pinna width, interbract distance, peduncle length, peduncle width, rachilla width, number of rachillae, fruit diameter) differ significantly (P<0.05) between one pair of subgroups, and one (rachilla length) differs amongst all three groups. Based on these results, these three subgroups are recognized as subspecies (subspp. ferruginea, microspadix, nicaraguensis). There are only three specimens from Honduras and Guatemala - too few for analysis - and these outliers are unplaced for subspecies. (Henderson, A.J. (2011) A revision of Geonoma. Phytotaxa 17: 1-271.)/Palmweb. Taxonomic notes: -Henderson et al. (1995) suggested that this species was part of G. longivaginata. It is closely related to that species, differing in its shorter rachillae - 8.1 (3.8-15.0) cm long versus 22.9 (10.0-42.0) cm long - without short, transverse ridges. Subspecific variation: - One trait (stem branching) varies within this species. (Henderson, A.J. (2011) A revision of Geonoma. Phytotaxa 17: 1-271.)/Palmweb. |
Culture
Comments and Curiosities
There are three sub-species:
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1.) Geonoma ferruginea subsp. ferruginea; Costa Rica. From 9°17-10°55'N and 83°08-85°29'W in Costa Rica (Cordilleras Tilarán, Central, Talamanca, and Guanacaste) at 904(400-1500) m elevation in lowland to montane tropical rainforest. Several specimens have unusually high numbers of pinnae, 9-15 versus the more usual 3-5. Specimens from Volcan Arenal (Russell 683, 893, Lent 3335) have larger leaves and inflorescences than the others. Inflorescences rachillae 10 (5-25), 9.7 (6.4-15.0) cm long. (Henderson, A.J. (2011) A revision of Geonoma. Phytotaxa 17: 1-271.)/Palmweb. 2.) Geonoma ferruginea subsp. microspadix; Costa Rica. From 10°11-10°28'N and 83°54-84°12'W in Costa Rica (Sarapiquí valley and adjacent areas) at 520 (100-950) m elevation in lowland tropical rainforest. Inflorescences rachillae 22(11-38), 5.5( 3.8-8.0) cm long. (Henderson, A.J. (2011) A revision of Geonoma. Phytotaxa 17: 1-271.)/Palmweb. 3.) Geonoma ferruginea subsp. nicaraguensis; Nicaragua. From 12°15-13°47'N and 84°59-85°52'W in Nicaragua at 956 (350-1500) m elevation in lowland to montane tropical rainforest. Inflorescences rachillae 17 (9-30), 7.5 ( 5.5-9.5) cm long. (Henderson, A.J. (2011) A revision of Geonoma. Phytotaxa 17: 1-271.)/Palmweb. |
External Links
- Glossary of Palm Terms
- MODERN BOTANICAL LATIN
- "Just To Be Clear"
- 2008 Biennial, Costa Rica. By Searle Brothers Nursery Florida, author of post: Ryan D. Gallivan.
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).
Henderson, A.J. (2011) A revision of Geonoma. Phytotaxa 17: 1-271.
Many Special Thanks to Ed Vaile for his long hours of tireless editing and numerous contributions.