Geonoma mooreana de Nevers & Grayum (1995: 354)

Henderson, Andrew, 2011, A revision of Geonoma (Arecaceae), Phytotaxa 17, pp. 1-271 : 103-104

39. Geonoma mooreana de Nevers & Grayum (1995: 354) . Type: PANAMA. Veraguas: vicinity of Santa Fé, along road between Santa Fé and Calovébora, 1.7 mi. past Alto Piedra School, 1.5 mi. beyond Quebrada Cosilla (previously referred to as Río Primero Braso), 8°33’N, 81°08’W, 570 m, 13 July 1994, T. Croat & Guanghua Zhu 76826 (holotype MO!, isotypes CAS n.v., PMA!).

Plants 2.3(1.5–3.5) m tall; stems 2.4 m tall, 1.4(1.2–1.7) cm in diameter, clustered, cane-like; internodes 1.7(1.0–2.8) cm long, yellowish and smooth. Leaves 9 per stem, regularly pinnate and the pinnae with 1 main vein only, not plicate, bases of blades running diagonally into the rachis; sheaths 17.1(11.5–22.0) cm long; petioles 35.5(12.0–59.0) cm long, drying green or yellowish; rachis 67.0(38.0–78.5) cm long, 4.2(2.6–5.3) mm in diameter veins raised and rectangular in cross-section adaxially; pinnae 33(26–49) per side of rachis; basal pinna 25.4(14.0–38.0) cm long, 0.5(0.3–0.5) cm wide, forming an angle of 68(47–89)° cm with the rachis; apical pinna 13.7(10.0–16.7) cm long, 1.2(0.5–2.8) cm wide, forming an angle of 26(15–40)° with the rachis. Inflorescences branched 3–4 orders; prophylls and peduncular bracts not ribbed with elongate, unbranched fibers, flattened, deciduous or persistent; prophylls 12.8(8.1–20.9) cm long, short, asymmetrically apiculate, the margins curved around the stem, the surfaces flat with dense, felty, brown tomentum, prophyll equal to and early deciduous with the peduncular bract, the surfaces not ridged, without unequally wide ridges; peduncular bracts 12.2(8.0–19.0) cm long, well-developed, inserted 0.4(0.3–0.7) cm above the prophyll; peduncles 11.5(7.5–16.0) cm long, 6.0(4.2–8.5) mm in diameter; rachillae 108(78–136), 13.2(11.0– 15.0) cm long, 0.8(0.3–1.0) 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 pistillate flowers not projecting and persistent after anthesis; fruits 5.6(4.4–6.7) mm long, 4.5(4.1–5.0) 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 8°31’– 9°20’N and 80°37’– 82°35’W in western Panama at 607(180– 966) m elevation in lowland rainforest ( Fig. 28 ).

Taxonomic notes:— Geonoma mooreana is closely related to G. scoparia from Costa Rica. It differs from this species in its yellowish, smooth internodes.

Subspecific variation:— No trait varies within this species. Specimens come from three separate areas but there are too few specimens to test for differences, and the gaps may be artifacts caused by insufficient collecting.

Figures

FIGURE 28. Distribution maps of Geonoma monospatha, G. mooreana, G. multisecta, and G. occidentalis.