Family:
Arecaceae Bercht. & J.Presl
Genus:
Chamaedorea Willd.

Chamaedorea geonomiformis H.Wendl.

This species is accepted, and its native range is S. Mexico to Central America.

[PW]
Distribution
MEXICO (without locality). GUATEMALA. Alta Verapaz. Izabal. Peten. BELIZE. Toledo. HONDURAS. Atlantida. COLOMBIA?
General Description
Habit: solitary, erect or occasionally decumbent, to 1.5 m tall, often flowering when stemless. Stem: 0.5-1 cm diam., green, smooth, ringed, internodes 1-3 cm long, adventitious roots conspicuous at base. Leaves: 5-10, erect-spreading, bifid, rich green above, green below; sheath 8-10 cm long, tubular, green, obliquely open above middle, longitudinally striate-nerved; petiole 2-15 cm long, flat and green above, rounded and pale below; rachis 11-22 cm long, angled and yellow-green above, rounded and yellowish below; blade 15-30 x 15 cm, incised apically 1/3-1/2 its length and there 10 cm wide, oblanceolate or oblong-elliptic, lobes acute, only shallowly and obscurely toothed toward apex, 9-12 nerves on each side of rachis, these obscure above, pale yellowish and prominent below, not keeled above, 2 secondaries between each pair of primaries, tertiaries numerous, faint. . Inflorescences: interfoliar but often infrafoliar in fruit, solitary, erect-spreading; peduncles 10-20 cm long, slender, 2-5 mm wide at base, 2-3 mm wide at apex, erect, green in flower where exposed, red-orange in fruit; bracts 5, tubular, closely sheathing, papery', drying brown by anthesis, longitudinally striate-nerved, uppermost shorter than to exceeding peduncle; rachises 2 cm long, green in flower, red-orange in fruit. Staminate with 3-6 rachillae, rarely spicate or with 2 rachillae and then usually only when flowering for one of first times, to 20 cm long, pendulous, slender, pale yellow. Pistillate with 2-3 rachillae, rarely spicate and then usually only when flowering for one of first times, 5-15 cm long, erect-spreading, light or yellowish green in flower becoming thickened and orange-red in fruit. Flowers: Staminate in rather dense spirals, 4 x 3.5-4 mm, globose-ovoid, yellowish, slightly sunken in elliptic depressions 3 mm long; calyx 0.5 x 3 mm, ringlike, shallowly lobed, not nerved when dry, yellow, membranous, sepals connate nearly to apex, broadly rounded apically; petals 3-4 x 4 mm, valvate, connate apically and basally and adnate apically to pistillode and corolla opening by lateral slits, membranous, nerveless or only faintly nerved; stamens 2-2.5 mm long, filaments equalling anthers, anthers 1.5 mm long, entire apically, briefly separated basally; pistillode 3 mm high, columnar, slightly narrowed apically. Pistillate in moderate spirals, 1-2 x .2.5 mm, dome-shaped, yellow, slightly sunken in rounded depressions; calyx 0.75 x 2.5 mm, shallowly lobed, membranous, yellow, sepals imbricate and/ or connate in basal 3/4 broadly rounded apically, strongly nerved when dry; petals 2 x 3 mm, imbricate nearly to apex, acute, faintly nerved when fresh, strongly nerved when dry; staminodes not seen; pistil 2.5 x 2-2.5 mm, dome-shaped, yellow, styles short or lacking, stigma lobes slightly pointed, low, clear-colored. Fruits: 8-12 mm diam., globose, blue-black, falling with perianth attached; seeds 6-9 mm diam.; abortive carpels adherent to fruit.
Biology
Dense, wet forest on the Atlantic slope; 100-900 m elevation; usually on limestone.

Native to:

Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest

Chamaedorea geonomiformis H.Wendl. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
Mar 27, 2006 Baker, W.J. [200-4802] K000462554
Jan 1, 2003 [Unknown] [s.n.] K000462932 Unknown type material
Feb 1, 1994 Herrera [6655], Costa Rica Chamaedorea tenella K000520360

First published in Allg. Gartenzeitung 20: 1 (1852)

Accepted by

  • Berendsohn, W.G., Gruber, A.K. & Monterrosa Salomón, J. (2012). Nova Silva Cusatlantica. Árboles natinos e introducidos de El Salvador. Parte 2: Angiospermae - Familias M a P y Pteridophyta Englera 29-2: 1-300.
  • Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.
  • Hammel, B.E. & al. (2003). Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica 2: 1-694. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
  • Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Literature

Palmweb - Palms of the World Online

  • Hodel, D. 1992. Chamaedorea Palms, The Species and Their Cultivation. The International Palm Society.

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • Hammel, B.E. & al. (2003). Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica 2: 1-694. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. 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