A revision of Geonoma (Arecaceae)
Author
Henderson, Andrew
text
Phytotaxa
2011
2011-02-18
17
1
271
journal article
24911
10.11646/phytotaxa.17.1
65962ba7-eec1-40e7-aed6-cef94e99ca39
1179-3163
3538362
52.
Geonoma poiteauana
Kunth (1841: 233)
.
Gynestum acaule
Poiteau (1822: 391)
.
Geonoma poiteana
Martius (1843: 39)
.
Geonoma acaulis
(Poiteau)
Burret (1930a: 162)
.
Geonoma macrostachys
var.
poiteauana
(Kunth)
Henderson (1995: 277)
.
Type
:
FRENCH GUIANA
. Without locality, no date,
A. Poiteau s.n.
(
holotype
P!).
Geonoma dammeri
Huber (1902: 409)
.
Taenianthera dammeri
(Huber)
Burret (1930c: 13)
. Type:
BRAZIL
. Pará: Furo Macujubim,
6 October 1901
,
M. Guedes 2241
(
holotype
MG!).
Geonoma chaunostachys
Burret (1931c: 318)
. Type:
VENEZUELA
.
Amazonas
: Mount Duida, ca.
250 m
,
18 November 1928
,
G. Tate 394
(
holotype
NY!).
Plants
1.2(0.5–2.0) m tall; stems
0.1 m
tall,
2.1 cm
in diameter, branching no data, not cane-like; internodes
0.2 cm
long, not scaly.
Leaves
undivided or irregularly pinnate, not plicate, bases of blades running diagonally into the rachis; sheaths 13.7(12.0–17.0) cm long; petioles 21.6(18.0–26.7) cm long, drying green or yellowish; rachis 57.0(38.0–79.5) cm long, 4.2(3.1–5.9) mm in diameter; adaxial veins not raised or slightly raised and triangular in cross-section adaxially; pinnae 2(1–3) per side of rachis; basal pinna 51.8(42.0–64.0) cm long, 16.6(9.0–26.0) cm wide, forming an angle of 11(5–22)° with the rachis; apical pinna 33.4(30.0–38.0) cm long, 16.9(9.5–31.5) cm wide, forming an angle of 18(10–24)° with the rachis.
Inflorescences
unbranched; prophylls and peduncular bracts ribbed with elongate, unbranched fibers, both bracts tubular, narrow, elongate, closely sheathing the peduncle, more or less persistent; prophylls 10.4(6.0–13.2) cm long, not short and asymmetrically apiculate, the surfaces not ridged, without unequally wide ridges; peduncular bracts 23.4(19.0–28.35) cm long, well-developed, inserted 0.9(0.5–2.0) cm above the prophyll; peduncles 80.2(54.5–119.5) cm long, 2.9(1.3–3.7) mm in diameter; rachillae 1, 13.2(8.5–20.0) cm long, 4.8(3.1–6.0) mm in diameter, the surfaces without spiky, fibrous projections or ridges, drying brown or yellow-brown, without short, transverse ridges, not filiform and not narrowed between the flower pits; flower pits spirally arranged, glabrous internally; proximal lips with a central notch before anthesis, often the two sides of the notch overlapping, not recurved after anthesis, not hood-shaped; proximal and distal lips drying the same color as the rachillae, not joined to form a raised cupule, the proximal lip margins overlapping the distal lip margins; distal lips well-developed; staminate and pistillate petals not emergent, not valvate throughout; staminate flowers deciduous after anthesis; stamens 6; thecae diverging or not diverging at anthesis, inserted onto well-developed, non-split, jointed connectives, connectives alternately long and short; anthers short at anthesis, remaining straight and parallel; non-fertilized pistillate flowers deciduous after anthesis; staminodial tubes lobed at the apex, the lobes spreading at anthesis, acuminate, those of non-fertilized pistillate flowers not projecting and persistent after anthesis;
fruits
8.8(7.9–9.5) mm long, 7.2(6.4–8.0) mm in diameter, the bases without a prominent stipe, the apices not conical, the surfaces not splitting at maturity, without fibers emerging, not bumpy, not apiculate; locular epidermis with operculum, smooth, with pores.
Distribution and habitat:—
From
7°45’N–
8°00’S
and 47°10’–
70°11’W
in the eastern and central Amazon region of the Guianas,
Venezuela
,
Colombia
, and
Brazil
, at 242(1–725) m elevation in lowland rainforest (
Fig. 36
).
Taxonomic notes:—
Geonoma poiteauana
was recognized by
Henderson (1995)
as a variety of
Geonoma macrostachys
, but is here recognized at the species level. The two are closely related,
G. poiteauana
differing by its fruits which are not bumpy and not apiculate. It belongs to a group of species within the
G. macrostachys
clade, comprising
G. macrostachys
,
G. multisecta
,
G. paradoxa
, and
G. schizocarpa
.
Subspecific variation:—
Only one trait (leaf division) varies within this species.