Dictyocaryum
Dictyocaryum lamarckianum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Subfamily: Arecoideae
Tribe: Iriarteeae
Genus: Dictyocaryum
H. Wendl.[1]
Species

Dictyocaryum is a monoecious genus of flowering plant in the palm family found in South America. It is closely related to the genus Iriartea; they are commonly called araque or palma real. As many as eleven species have been described but this number is reduced to three in most current accounts. The genus name translates from two Greek words meaning "net" and "nut", describing the thick network of raphe fibers around the seed.[2]

Description

Dictocaryum palms are usually solitary in nature though D. ptarianum will occasionally cluster in habitat. All three plants have conical masses of stilt roots at the base which are armed with spines. These stilt roots, in the case of D. fuscum, can be up to four inches (ten centimeters) thick.[3] The trunks are conspicuously ringed by leaf scars, to 30 cm wide, and in D. lamarckianum reach over 20 m in height. All have tall crownshafts and 4-6 large, plumose, pinnate leaves. The leaves may be sparsely to densely tomentose on the rachis and petiole, the leaflets are regularly and widely spaced, up to 60 cm long, dark green on top and glaucous on the underside.

Compared to other palms, the inflorescences in this genus are unusually large, once-branched, and emerge below the leaf crown. Both male and female flowers are white to yellow, growing on the same plant, both with three sepals and three petals. The fruit develops from one carpel, yellow to orange to brown when ripe, containing one basally attached, spherical seed.[4]

Distribution and habitat

Palms in this genus are found in the mountainous and montane rain forest regions of Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Guyana and Venezuela from low elevations up to 1800 m. They often colonize in large, conspicuous groves, on steep slopes, receiving generous rain fall, and growing in acidic, noncalcareous soil.

Cultivation and uses

Their growing conditions are usually hard to mimic, making them relatively uncommon in cultivation. They require a frost-free climate, humus-rich soil, and plenty of water. In their natural range the trunks are used by indigenous people in construction and cabinet-making, the leaves are woven into thatched goods, while the fruit is eaten and made into palm wine or jelly.[5] The Emberá Indians use the hard, durable trunks in the construction of coffins.[6]

References

  1. ↑ H.A. Wendland, Bonplandia 8:106. 1860
  2. ↑ Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. Portland: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-558-6 / ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6
  3. ↑ Henderson, Andrew (May 2, 1990). "Arecaceae - Part 1". Flora Neotropica. 53: 54.
  4. ↑ Uhl, Natalie W. and Dransfield, John (1987) Genera Palmarum - A classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore. Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press. ISBN 0-935868-30-5 / ISBN 978-0-935868-30-2
  5. ↑ Romero Casteñeda, R. (1969) Fruitas Silvestres de Colombia Vol II. Bogota: Editorial Andes
  6. ↑ Henderson, A., Galeano, G., and Bernal, R.(1997) "Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas" Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01600-3 / ISBN 978-0-691-01600-9
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