Geonoma macrostachys
Mart.
Original
reference:
Hist. nat. palm. 2: 19 (1823)
Type:
Martius s.n
Morphology:
Understorey palm. Acaulescent or with a solitary, short stem, to 30 cm tall. Leaf blade 50-250 cm long, simple or irregularly to nearly regularly divided. Inflorescence unbranched; spike carrot-coloured in fruit. Male flowers with filaments free nearly to the base; anthers with a long split connective, reflexed in bud, usually straightened at anthesis. Female flowers with staminodes free nearly to the base, at anthesis speading in a star-like fashion. Fruits 6-9 mm long, green, maturing black.
Distribution:
Throughout the Amazon basin, below 600 m elevation.
Notes:
This is the most common and abundant member of a group of understorey species characterised by having unbranched inflorescence, female flowers with free staminodes that spread at anthesis resembling a small star, and inflorescence axis attaining a very characteristic orange colour in fruit. The other members of this group are G. camana, G. paradoxa, and G. polyandra. Geonoma macrostachys has been divided into various species or varieties based mainly on variation in size and degree of dissection of the leaves (Wessels Boer, 1968). The common feature that unite all the forms is the morphology of the stamens: they have short, parallel thecae borne on a long connective that is jointed to the filament and reflexed in bud, but unfolding and straightening at anthesis.
Common
names:
Cofaje
–
Cofán
(Borman 1976 and additional references).
Mo
–
Waorani-downriver dialect
(E.W. Davis #961).
Ucsha
–
Quichua
(Borchsenius et al. 1998).
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