Colpothrinax wrightii

Fairchild FL

Colpothrinax wrightii

Scientific Classification

Genus:	Colpothrinax
Species:	wrightii

Synonyms

Pritchardia wrightii

Native Continent

America

Morphology

Habit:	Solitary
Leaf type:	Costapalmate

Culture

Survivability index

Common names

Barrigona, palma barrigona ("pot-bellied palm"), palma barrigona de la Vuelta Abajo [to distinguish from (palma) barrigona de sierra, Gastrococos crispa, another Cuban endemic.

Habitat and Distribution

Southwestern Cuba, and the nearby Isle of Youth (formerly Isle of Pines), O-ca. 200 m; semidry savannas and grasslands (formerly pine forests) on white sand.

Description

Colpothrinax wrightii is characterized by its swollen trunk. This feature, in combination with its costapalmate leaves, distinguishes C. wrightii, from all other Cuban palms. The only other Cuban "pot-belly" palm, Gastrococos crispa, has pinnate leaves. Within Colpothrinax, the small fruits and seeds of C. wrightii, are also diagnostic, as are the clear line of abscission, at the base of the deciduous corolla lobes, and the relatively long stamen-cup. The deciduous corolla lobes, and long stamen-cup of C. wrightii flowers, are also characteristics of the flowers in Pritchardia, suggesting these to be the ancestral Colpothrinax states, and therefore the persistent corolla lobes, and short stamen-cup of C. aphanopetala, and C. cookii flowers are derived. Charles Wright collected plants for Asa Gray at Harvard University, throughout the island of Cuba, during the years 1856--1867. In September 1865 or 1866, he collected a palm known locally as "palma barrigona", in the Vuelta Abajo area of western Cuba. A specimen of this palm was sent to Hermann Wendland, Director of the Royal Gardens in Herrenhausen, Germany for determination. Apparently, Wendland considered this palm to belong to a new species and genus, and informally assigned to it the name Colpothrinax wrightii. Wright was given this information, and he, in turn, forwarded it to Francisco Sauvalle, a rich landowner and amateur botanist. Sauvalle included the name (attributing it without description, along with the local Cuban name, in his Flora Cubana (1871). This list was essentially an update and revision, of Grisebach's Catalogus Plantarum Cubensium (1866), that incorporated new taxa collected by Wright, during his last two years in Cuba, and not seen by Grisebach. Subsequently, O. C. de Kerchove de Denterghem, also used the name Colpothrinax wrightii in his Les Palmiers (1878), but again without description. The genus Colpothrinax was not formally established until the following year (1879), and the first valid publication of Colpothrinax wrightii (misspelled as "wightii"), did not appear for another 16 years. Trunk 6-12(-15) m tall, erect, 15-20 cm dbh, swollen beginning 2-3 m above ground, 30-40(-50) cm diam., naked; trunks of juveniles less than ca. 3-5 m tall usually enclosed in a mat of persistent leaf-sheath fibers, 5-10 cm thick. Leaves usually 10-20; petiole ca. 1-1.5 m long, 3.7-4.6 cm wide at attachment to blade; sheath glaucous, disintegrating and fraying into a coarse, fibrous, nonpendulous network, the individual fibers somewhat serpentine and twisted, typically compressed, 0.6-0.8 mm broad; hastula elevated above the blade, 1.7-2.8 x 4.8-5.8 cm, 2.1-2.8 times as wide as long, depressed to very depressedtriangular, obtuse and ± notched apically; costa 19.5-25.0(-38.5) cm long; blade 142-171 cm long centrally, 39-44 cm long laterally, divided into single-fold segments; central division to within 76-111 cm of (1/3-1/2 to) base, the lateral-most division extending to within 1.5-2.5(-3.5) cm of (> 90% to) base; folds per blade half 36-45; widest single-fold segment 3.4-5.0 cm wide. Inflorescences with flowers and fruit to ca. 5, plus ca. 10 marcescent per individual; primary axis ca. 1.5 m long; inflorescence bracts lanate, with trichomes 2-3 mm long; peduncle ca. 0.4 m long; prophyll ca. 20 x 5 cm; peduncular bracts ca. 6, 22.0-54.5 cm long; rachis bracts 10.5-65.5 cm long; firstorder branches 6-10; axes creamy yellow initially, becoming orange in fruit.

Culture

Sunny, moist, but well drained position. Tropical in its requirements. Quite slow growing.

Curiosities

The climate where C. wrightii occurs, is classified as dry tropical. The area has a 5-6 month dry season with an annual precipitation of only 750-1,600 mm. However, during the rainy season (approximately April to September) some lands are periodically inundated. Colpothrinax wrightii originally occurred, on white sand in open pine forests, in association with the understory palm Acoelorraphe wrightii. These forests have now virtually all, been converted to savannas or pastures, as a result of logging and subsequent burning and/or grazing. It was usually the pines in the original forest, that were targeted by loggers. Despite the elimination of its natural habitat, and its exploitation C. wrightii, it has continued to survive in populations of scattered individuals, in the shrub and grasslands, the species was recently given special protection regulating its use. C. wrightii has also been much exploited locally, the swollen "pot-belly" of the trunk being used for such things as water containers, furniture, and even beehives. Non-destructive uses include removing leaves for thatching, and gathering fruits for feeding pigs.