Geonoma longipedunculata Burret (1930c: 8)

Henderson, Andrew, 2011, A revision of Geonoma (Arecaceae), Phytotaxa 17, pp. 1-271 : 89-90

34. Geonoma longipedunculata Burret (1930c: 8) . Type: COLOMBIA. Caquetá: Getuchá, Río Orteguaza, 21 July 1926, G. Woronow & S. Juzepczuk 6157 (holotype LE, n.v.).

Plants 1.5(0.8–3.0) m tall; stems 0.3(0.1–1.0) m tall, 1.7(1.3–2.1) cm in diameter, solitary, not cane-like; internodes 0.4(0.3–0.4) cm long, not scaly. Leaves 10(6–13) per stem, irregularly pinnate, not plicate, bases of blades running diagonally into the rachis; sheaths 13.4(8.0–20.0) cm long; petioles 61.0(43.5–77.5) cm long, drying green or yellowish; rachis 46.1(26.0–64.0) cm long, 3.8(2.2–7.0) mm; veins raised and rectangular in cross-section adaxially; pinnae 5(3–10) per side of rachis; basal pinna 33.4(19.5–47.5) cm long, 2.2(0.8–7.5) cm wide, forming an angle of 66(40–93)° with the rachis; apical pinna 31.3(25.5–39.5) cm long, 13.3(3.3– 28.0) cm wide, forming an angle of 30(18–35)° with the rachis. Inflorescences branched 1–2 orders; prophylls and peduncular bracts ribbed with elongate, unbranched fibers, both bracts tubular, narrow, elongate, closely sheathing the peduncle, more or less persistent; prophylls 14.6(9.5–18.4) cm long, not short and asymmetrically apiculate, the surfaces not ridged, without unequally wide ridges; peduncular bracts 16.3(12.0–21.2) cm long, well-developed, inserted 2.1(1.0–3.7) cm above the prophyll; peduncles 31.4(25.0– 36.0) cm long, 3.8(2.3–6.3) mm in diameter; rachillae 6(3–10), 19.1(13.7–32.5) cm long, 2.1(1.8–3.1) mm in diameter, the surfaces without spiky, fibrous projections or ridges, drying brown, with faint to pronounced, short, transverse ridges, not filiform and not narrowed between the flower pits; flower pits spirally arranged, glabrous internally; proximal lips without a central notch before anthesis, not recurved after anthesis, hood- shaped at anthesis, sometimes splitting post-anthesis; 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 a scarcely raised rim; staminate and pistillate petals not emergent, not valvate throughout; staminate flowers deciduous after anthesis; stamens 6; thecae diverging at anthesis, inserted almost directly onto the filament apices, the connectives bifid but scarcely developed; anthers short and curled over at anthesis; nonfertilized pistillate flowers deciduous after anthesis; staminodial tubes crenulate or shallowly lobed at the apex, those of non-fertilized pistillate flowers not projecting and persistent after anthesis; fruits 6.0(5.9–6.1) mm long, 4.9(4.6–5.2) mm in diameter, the bases without a prominent stipe, the apices not conical, the surfaces not splitting at maturity, without fibers emerging, bumpy from the numerous, subepidermal, tangential, short fibers present, these coming to a point at fruit apices; locular epidermis without operculum, smooth, without pores.

Distribution and habitat:— From 4°00’N– 4°25’S and 73°50’– 78°38’W in the western Amazon and sub- Andean regions of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru at 410(200–1050) m elevation in lowland rainforest ( Fig. 23 ).

Taxonomic notes:— Geonoma longipedunculata was included as a synonym of G. dicranospadix (here treated as a synonym of G. frontinensis ) by Wessels Boer (1968). However, it is unrelated to G. frontinensis , but similar to G. brongniartii , G. poeppigiana , and G. sanmartinensis . It differs from these in its rachillae with faint to pronounced, short, transverse ridges.

Subspecific variation:— No trait varies within this species. There is no geographic discontinuity except for outlying specimens in Colombia and Peru.

Figures

FIGURE 23. Distribution maps of Geonoma leptospadix and G. longipedunculata.