Euterpe catinga
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Euterpe catinga is a species of palm native to South America.
features
Euterpe catinga has multiple or single stems. The trunks are upright, 4 to 16 m high and 3.5 to 15 cm in diameter. They are gray, the cone of adventitious roots at the base is brown or reddish. The adventitious roots are 0.2 to 1 m long and 1 to 1.5 cm thick.
The crown consists of 5 to 10 leaves . The leaf sheath is 0.4 to 1 m long and has a 1 to 2 cm long ligule . The vagina is orange or reddish, green, yellowish green, bluish green or with a bluish coating. Often it is covered with scales. The petiole is absent or up to 45 cm long and densely covered with black or reddish-brown scales on the upper side. The rachis is 1.2 to 2.5 m long and hairy like the petiole. It has 33 to 75 leaflets on each side, which protrude horizontally or hang slightly. They are leathery and covered with a few scales on the underside. The midrib is clear and surrounded by two lateral veins. The basal leaflet is 0.3 to 1 m long, the middle 35 to 84 cm, the terminal 23 to 31 cm.
The inflorescence is almost horizontal between the leaves and during flowering. The inflorescence stalk is 6 to 14 cm long, the cover sheet 0.5 to 1 m, the bract on the inflorescence stalk 46 to 90 cm long. The inflorescence axis is 20 to 45 cm long and carries 48 to 150 side branches that are 35 to 70 cm long and are densely covered with stiff, branched hair. The flowers stand in triads almost to the tip of the side branches, only at the end there are single or paired male flowers.
The male flowers are 3 to 4 mm long. The sepals are very broad oval, 1.5 to 3 mm long and slightly keeled. The petals are oval, 2.5 to 3 mm long. The stamens stand on a short receptaculum. The stamens are 1 to 2 mm long, the anthers 1.7 to 2 mm. The rudiment of the stamp is 1 to 2 mm long and has three lobes at the tip. The female flowers are 2 to 5 mm long. The petals are broadly oval, the sepals are 2 to 3.5 mm long, the petals 2 to 4 mm.
The fruits are spherical or slightly compressed and have a diameter of 0.8 to 1.3 cm. The scar remains are subapical or to the side. The exocarp is purple-black or reddish brown and finely bumpy. The seeds are spherical. The endosperm is homogeneous, the primary leaf is divided into two parts.
Systematics
Euterpe catinga was first described by Alfred Russel Wallace in his book Palm Trees of the Amazon and Their Uses in 1853 . 1996 Henderson and Galeano have in their generic monograph by then as a separate species roraimae Euterpe as a variety to Euterpe catinga asked. The species is quite diverse in terms of its characteristics, its taxonomy is described by the two monograph editors as difficult. The plants in the lowlands are rather uniform, as are some plants on the tepuis in the western highlands of Guyana. There are other forms in the highlands, as well as in the Andes. Henderson and Galeano divide the species into two varieties, the nominate form var. Catinga and var. Roraimae .
Variety Euterpe catinga var. Catinga
The nominate form is characterized by an orange or reddish corolla, rarely it is green. Apically it often bears a mass of elongated scales. The side axes of the inflorescence are whitish brown. The petiole is 0 to 10, rarely up to 17 cm long. The leaflets stick out horizontally. The variety occurs in the western Amazon region: Colombia (Amazonas, Caquetá, Guainía, Guaviare, Vaupés), Venezuela (Amazonas, Bolívar), Peru (Loreto) and Brazil (Amazonas). It grows in open or dwarf forests on wet, poorly drained locations on white-sand soils and in the drainage area of black water at up to 350 m above sea level. The variety grows in similar locations in the southwest of the Guayana highlands in Venezuela (Amazonas, Bolívar), here in open cloud forests at 1100 to 1500 m above sea level. The fruits are eaten by the fat swallow ( Steatornis caripensis ) , among others , which seems to be an important disseminator.
Variety Euterpe catinga var. Roraimae
The variety Euterpe catinga var. Roraimae (Dammer) AJHend. & Galeano is characterized by green, yellow-green or bluish-green crown shafts. They don't have scales. The side axes of the inflorescence are reddish brown, light brown or whitish. The petiole is (rarely 6 to) 25 to 45 cm long. The leaflets are pendulous to horizontal.
This variety occurs in Venezuela (Amazonas, Bolívar), Guyana, Ecuador (Pastaza) and Brazil (Amazonas). It grows on white-sand soils on wet or swampy lowland forests, in cloud forests or on Tepui plateaus in the highlands of Guiana. It is also rarely found on the slopes of the Andes. It occurs at altitudes between 900 and 2100 m. In some areas it forms large, dominant stands. The population in the Andes is geographically separated from the rest and grows here on different soils.
supporting documents
- Andrew Henderson, Gloria Galeano: Euterpe, Prestoea, and Neonicholsonia (Palmae: Euterpeinae) . Flora Neotropica, Volume 72, New York Botanical Garden Press, New York 1996, pp. 1-90. (JSTOR)