Geonoma lanata Henderson, Borchsenius & Balslev (2008: 195)

Henderson, Andrew, 2011, A revision of Geonoma (Arecaceae), Phytotaxa 17, pp. 1-271 : 83-84

30. Geonoma lanata Henderson, Borchsenius & Balslev (2008: 195) . Type: ECUADOR. Carchi: Tulcan, Reserva Etnica Awá, Parroquia Chical, Centro Gualpi Medio, 1°02’N 78°16’W, 900 m, 25 February 1993, C. Aulestia & A. Grijalva 1200 (holotype QCNE, n.v., isotypes AAU!, MO n.v.).

Plants 1.4(0.7–2.0) m tall; stems 1.3(0.5–2.0) m tall, 0.7(0.5–0.9) cm in diameter, solitary or clustered, canelike; internodes 1.6(0.7–3.1) cm long, yellowish and smooth. Leaves 9(7–11) per stem, undivided, not plicate, bases of blades running diagonally into the rachis; sheaths 6.7(4.0–12.1) cm long; petioles 19.1(11.0–27.5) cm long, drying green or yellowish; rachis 15.2(10.7–18.7) cm long, 1.9(1.2–2.5) mm in diameter; veins raised and rectangular in cross-section adaxially; pinnae 1 per side of rachis; basal pinna length and width not applicable, forming an angle of 40(33–46)° with the rachis; apical pinna 13.1(10.2–17.0) cm long, width not applicable, forming an angle of 39(36–43)° with the rachis. Inflorescences branched 1 order; prophylls and peduncular bracts not ribbed with elongate, unbranched fibers, flattened, persistent; prophylls 10.1(9.6–10.5) cm long, not short and asymmetrically apiculate, the surfaces not ridged, without unequally wide ridges; peduncular bracts 7.8 cm long, well-developed, inserted 3.0(1.0–6.9) cm above the prophyll; peduncles 9.7(4.4–15.0) cm long, 1.9(1.2–2.4) mm in diameter; rachillae 4(2–5), 11.2(6.0–15.5) cm long, 1.6(1.0–2.4) 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 alternately arranged (sometimes distorted by twisting and contracting of rachillae), glabrous internally; proximal lips without a central notch before anthesis, not recurved after anthesis, not hood-shaped; proximal and distal lips drying the same color as the rachillae, joined laterally with no clear gap between them, often forming a raised cupule, the margins not overlapping; distal lips well-developed; 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; non-fertilized pistillate flowers deciduous after anthesis; staminodial tubes crenulate or shallowly lobed at the apex; staminodial tubes of non-fertilized pistillate flowers not projecting and persistent after anthesis; fruits 7.8(7.0–9.5) mm long, 6.1(5.4–6.8) 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 1°15’N– 3°37’S and 78°14’– 79°49’W in Ecuador on western Andean slopes at 746(200–1800) m elevation in lowland or montane rainforest ( Fig. 22 ).

Taxonomic notes:— Specimens of this species were identified by Skov (1989) as Geonoma aff. pauciflora , and were considered by Borchsenius et al. (1998) as a western Andean form of G. leptospadix . Geonoma lanata is not closely related to either species, and belongs to a group of 12 species, the G. lanata clade. It differs from these in its alternately arranged flower pits and bumpy fruits with numerous, subepidermal, tangential, short fibers present, these coming to a point at fruit apices.

Subspecific variation:— Only one trait (stem branching) varies in this species. There is geographic disjunction but this may be an artifact of insufficient collecting. Most specimens are from the northern part of the range, and only four from the southern part–too few to test for differences. Galeano & Bernal (2010) report that this species also occurs in southwestern Colombia.

Figures

FIGURE 22. Distribution maps of Geonoma lanata, G. laxiflora, G. lehmannii subsp. lehmannii, and G. lehmannii subsp. corrugata.