Arecaceae
Attalea

Attalea insignis (Mart.) Drude

First published in H.G.A.Engler & K.A.E.Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., Nachtr. 1: 56 (1897)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is E. & SE. Colombia to N. Peru and NW. Brazil. It is a perennial and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome. It is used as animal food and a medicine, has social uses and for food.

Descriptions

Bernal, R., G. Galeano, A. Rodríguez, H. Sarmiento y M. Gutiérrez. 2017. Nombres Comunes de las Plantas de Colombia. http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/nombrescomunes/

Vernacular
coco, palma coco, palma de ramo, palma yagua, yagua
[UNAL]

General Description
Subcanopy palm. Stem short and subterranean, rarely aerial, then short and covered with persistent leaf bases. Leaves erect, 5-7 m long; pinnae numerous, arranged in groups and pointing in all directions, the central ones 50-100 cm long and 1-4 cm wide, with very prominent, wavy cross veins. Inflorescence erect, 70-80 cm long; branches 25-30, to 20 cm long. Male flowers pale yellow with club shaped, 10-15 mm long petals, and 6 stamens. Female flowers 1-4 per branch, to 15-20 mm long. Fruits one per branch, orange, with a cinnamon, scale-like indument, acute, 7-8 cm long, with 2-3 seeds.
Distribution
W part of the Amazon basin in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. Distribution in Ecuador. In Ecuador it is infrequent on poorly drained soil and in periodically flooded areas E of the Andes. It is rarely observed outside the forest, although it has been reported to be weedy in other parts of its distributional range (Henderson, 1995).
[PW]

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution
Nativa en Colombia; Alt. 100 - 600 m.; Amazonia, Guayana y Serranía de La Macarena, Orinoquia.
Morphology General Habit
Palma acaule
Conservation
Preocupación Menor
[CPLC]

Distribution
Biogeografic region: Amazonia, Guiana Shield, Orinoquia. Elevation range: 100–600 m a.s.l. Native to Colombia. Colombian departments: Amazonas, Caquetá, Casanare, Guaviare, Meta, Vaupés.
Habit
Acaulescent palm.
Conservation
National Red List of Colombia (2021): LC.
Ecology
Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, shrubland, native grassland, wetlands (inland), artificial - terrestrial.
Vernacular
Yagua
[UPFC]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Uses

Use Animal Food
Used as animal food.
Use Food
Used for food.
Use Materials
Used as material.
Use Medicines
Medical uses.
Use Social
Social uses.
[UPFC]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Colombian resources for Plants made Accessible

    • ColPlantA 2021. Published on the Internet at http://colplanta.org
    • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Palmweb - Palms of the World Online

    • Palmweb 2011. Palmweb: Palms of the World Online. Published on the internet http://www.palmweb.org. Accessed on 21/04/2013
    • Content licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0