Colpothrinax wrightii Schaedtler

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: threatened. Confidence: confident

Vernacular

Barrigona, palma barrigona (pot-bellied palm), palma barrigona de la Vuelta Abajo [to distinguish from (palma) barrigona de sierra, Gastrococos crispa (Kunth) H. E. Moore, another Cuban endemic] (Sauvalle 1871, 1873; Roig y Mesa 1928).

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.

Conservation

Despite the elimination of its natural habitat and its exploitation C. wrightii has continued to survive in populations of scattered individuals in the shrub and grasslands and the species was recently given special protection regulating its use (Moya and Leiva 2000).

Biology

The climate where C. wrightii occurs is classified as dry tropical (Borhidi 1996). 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 (Zona et a1. 2000). Colpothrinax wrightii originally occurred on white sand in open pine (Pinus tropicalis Morelet) forests, in association with the understory palm Acoelorraphe wrightii (Griseb. & H. Wend1.) H. Wend1. ex Becc. (Borhidi 1996). 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.

General Description

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, their primary-axes 3.073.0 cm long, with unbranched proximal portion 2.0-54.5 cm long, the branched distal portion 1.0-27.0 cm long; prophyll 8.5-44.5 cm long; rachillae typically 20-50 per basal first-order branch, < 10 per apical first-order branch, 3.5-17.5 cm long, tomentose, the trichomes whitish (to ferruginous), 0.4-0.5 mm long; flower-bearing spurs 0.2-0.4 mm long, the subtending bracteole 0.8-1.7 mm long, 0.5-0.9 mm wide basally. Floral receptacle 0.8-1.2 mm long; calyx 2.3-3.3 mm long, free distally from corolla for 1/4-1/2 its length, yellow, with lobes 0.2-0.7 mm long; I corolla 5.3-6.2 mm long, yellow, the lobes valvate, with parallel sides and mucronulate apices, fleshy, adaxially furrowed with involute or thickened margins, forming a hood apically, deciduous, with a clear line of abscission; filaments 3.2-4.5 mm long, connate basally for 2.0-2.7 mm (1/2-3/4 their length), stamen-cup much longer than calyxcup, 1.5-2.7 mm diam., anthers 2.2-3.9 x 0.8-1.2 mm; pollen 30-40 x 25-35 pm, tectum on nonapertural face foveolate; gynoecium 3.5-4.9 x 1.2-2.0 mm, carpels 1.1-1.6 x 0.7-1.3 mm, styles 2.2-3.4 mm long. Fruit 1.1-1.6 cm diam. Seed 0.7-0.9 x 0.9-1.1 cm.