Bactris riparia

Bactris riparia
Mart.

Original
reference:
Hist. nat. palm. 2: 97 (1826)

Morphology:
Riverside and lake shore palm. Stems clustered, to 6 m tall and 4-8 cm in diameter. Leaf blade 100-150 cm long; pinnae 40-50 on each side, inserted in groups and spreading in different planes, the central ones 40-60 cm long and 1.5-2.5 cm wide. Inflorescence 25-45 cm long; branches 25-30, 10-15 cm long. Female flowers scattered along the branches. Fruits green, strongly flattened at top, rostrate, ca. 1 x 1.5 cm; fruiting calyx with a very small, undulate calyx, and a much longer 3-lobed corolla; staminodial ring absent.

Distribution:
W Amazon region in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. Riparian, forming large colonies in periodically inundated forest, often growing in several meters deep water.
Common in E Ecuador.

Common
names:
Chonta durilla
–
Spanish
(H. Balslev #62051 ).

Chontilla de río
–
Spanish
(B. Bergmann #62124 ).

Chuntilla
–
Spanish
(J.E. Lawesson #44381 ).

Coco de laguna
–
Spanish
(J.E. Lawesson #44381 ).

Pa ´i ine
–
Siona
(H. Balslev #62051 ).

Uses:

The fruits are used as a bait when fishing ´Gamitana´, ´Paco,´ ´Sabalo´ and ´Palometa´
(B. Bergmann #62124 ).