Geonoma dindoensis Henderson, 2011

Henderson, Andrew, 2011, A revision of Geonoma (Arecaceae), Phytotaxa 17, pp. 1-271 : 66-68

17. Geonoma dindoensis Henderson , sp. nov. (Appendix IV, Plates 31 & 32)

A speciebus affinibus prophyllis haud brevibus necnon inaequaliter apiculatis atque rachide longiore differt.

Type: COLOMBIA. Valle: Dindo area, Bajo Calima, 3°59’N, 76°58’W, 100 m, 20 July 1984, A. Gentry & M. Monsalve 48419 (holotype NY!, isotype MO!).

Plants 2.0 m tall; stems height no data, 0.6 cm in diameter, cane-like; internodes 2.5 cm long, yellowish and smooth. Leaves undivided, not plicate, bases of blades running diagonally into the rachis; sheaths 6.5 cm long; petioles 6.5 cm long, drying green or yellowish; rachis 27.0 cm long, 2.6 mm in diameter; veins not raised or slightly raised and triangular in cross-section adaxially; pinnae 1 per side of rachis; basal pinna forming an angle of 22° with the rachis; apical pinna 9.5 cm long, forming an angle of 26° with the rachis. Inflorescences branched 3 orders; prophylls and peduncular bracts not ribbed with elongate, unbranched fibers, flattened, deciduous or persistent; prophylls length no data, not short and asymmetrically apiculate, the surfaces not ridged, without unequally wide ridges; peduncular bracts length no data, well-developed, inserted 1.3 cm above the prophyll; peduncle 5.7 cm long, 2.3 mm in diameter; rachillae 18, 4.2 cm long, 0.9 mm in diameter, the surfaces without spiky, fibrous projections or ridges, drying brown, with faint to pronounced, short, transverse ridges, filiform with extended narrowed sections 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 to form 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, those of non-fertilized flowers not projecting and persistent after anthesis; fruits no data.

Distribution and habitat:— At 3°59’S and 76°58’W on the Pacific coast of Colombia (Valle) at 100 m elevation in lowland rainforest ( Fig. 17 ).

Taxonomic notes:— Geonoma dindoensis shares the same character states as G. bernalii , except that fruits are lacking in the single specimen known. Given the differences in rachis length (27.0 cm long versus 13.3(12.5–14.1) cm long) and habitat (lowland rainforest in the Chocó at 100 m versus montane rainforest on eastern Andean slopes at 1105(1010–1200) m, G. dindoensis is recognized as distinct from G. bernalii , pending more collections.

Subspecific variation:— No trait varies within this species and only one specimen is known.

Figures

FIGURE 17. Distribution maps of Geonoma dindoensis, G. divisa, G. elegans, and G. epetiolata.