Geonoma fosteri Henderson, 2011

Henderson, Andrew, 2011, A revision of Geonoma (Arecaceae), Phytotaxa 17, pp. 1-271 : 75

23. Geonoma fosteri Henderson , sp. nov. (Appendix IV, Plate 34)

A speciebus affinibus prophyllis brevibus inaequaliter apiculatis atque rachide breviore, crusta fructuum fibris subepidermalibus brevibus numerosis apicem convergentibus tuberculata , operculo carens differt.

Type: ECUADOR. Sucumbios: Sinangoe Station, Shishicho Ridge, Alto Aguarico drainage, above (south of) Río Cofanes, west of Puerto Libre, NW of Lumbaqui, 00°12’N, 77°31’ W, 1300–1450 m, 14 August 2001, R. Aguinda, N. Pitman & R. Foster 1315 (holotype F!, isotype QCNE, n.v.).

Plants height no data; stems 1.5 m tall, 0.7 cm in diameter, cane-like; internodes 1.0 cm long, yellowish and smooth. Leaves irregularly pinnate, not plicate, bases of blades running diagonally into the rachis; sheaths 6.5 cm long; petioles 11.0 cm long, drying green or yellowish; rachis 20.5 cm long, 3.1(2.1–4.1) mm in diameter; veins raised and rectangular in cross-section adaxially; pinnae 3 per side of rachis; basal pinna 19.5 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, forming an angle of 63(58–68)° with the rachis; apical pinna 16.5 cm long, 8.5 cm wide, forming an angle 28° with the rachis. Inflorescences branched 3 orders; prophylls and peduncular bracts not ribbed with elongate, unbranched fibers; prophylls 5.2 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 no data, inserted 0.4 cm above the prophyll; peduncles 5.7 cm long, 3.4(2.9–3.8) mm in diameter; rachillae 10.5 cm long, 1.0(0.9–1.1) 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 size no data, 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.

Distribution and habitat:— From 0°12’– 0°19’N and 77°25’– 77°31’W on eastern Andean slopes in Ecuador at 1592(1375–1810) m elevation in montane rainforest ( Fig. 19 ).

Taxonomic notes:— Geonoma fosteri is similar to a group of species within the G. lanata clade. It differs from G. bernalii , G. dindoensis , G. lanata , and G. venosa in having short, asymmetrically apiculate prophylls with the margins curved around the stem and the surfaces flat with dense, felty, brown tomentum; from G. tenuissima in its fruit surfaces bumpy from the numerous, subepidermal, tangential, short fibers present; and from G. operculata by its locular epidermis without an operculum. Only two specimens are known. These share the same character states as G. braunii , but the peduncular bract is unknown in G. fosteri . Given the large geographic distance between the two, they are kept separate pending more complete material.

Subspecific variation:— No trait varies within this species.

Figures

FIGURE 19. Distribution maps of Geonoma fosteri, G. frontinensis, G. galeanoae, and G. gentryi.