Euterpe catinga

Euterpe Catinga is a native palm tree in South America.

Features

Euterpe Catinga growing multi-stemmed or single-stemmed. The stems are erect, 4-16 m high with a diameter of 3.5 to 15 cm. 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 a bluish coating. Frequently it is covered with scales. The petiole is absent or up to 45 cm long and densely covered at the top with black or reddish-brown scales. The rachis is 1.2 to 2.5 m long and hairy as the petiole. She carries on each side 33 to 75 leaflets that extend horizontally or hang anything. They are leathery and covered at the bottom with a few scales. The midrib is clearly and surrounded by two lateral veins. The basal leaves is 0.3 to 1 m long, the middle 35-84 cm, the terminal 23 to 31 cm.

The inflorescence is nearly horizontal between the leaves and during flowering. The inflorescence stalk is 6-14 cm long, the cover sheet 0.5 to 1 m, the bract on peduncle 46-90 cm long. The inflorescence axis is 20 to 45 cm long and carries 48-150 side branches that are 35 to 70 cm long and are densely covered with stiff, branched hairs. The flowers are almost to the top of the side branches in triads, only at the end, there are individual or paired male flowers.

The male flowers are 3-4 mm long. The sepals are very broadly oval, keeled 1.5 to 3 mm long and light. The petals are oval, 2.5 to 3 mm long. The stamens are on a short receptaculum. The filaments are 1 to 2 mm long, the anthers from 1.7 to 2 mm. The stamp rudiment is 1-2 mm long and three-lobed at the top. The female flowers are 2-5 mm long. The petals are broadly oval, the sepals are 2 to 3.5 mm long, the petals 2-4 mm.

The fruits are globose or slightly compressed and have a diameter of 0.8 to 1.3 cm. The scars radicals subapical or lateral. The exocarp is purple - black or reddish-brown and finely tuberculate. The seeds are spherical. The endosperm is homogeneous, the primary blade is divided into two.

System

Euterpe Catinga was first described in 1853 by Alfred Russel Wallace in his book Palm Trees of the Amazon and Their Uses. In 1996, Henderson and Galeano found in their generic monograph which until then as a separate species Euterpe Euterpe roraimae as a variety to Catinga. The species is quite diverse in terms of their characteristics, their taxonomy is described by the two monographs agents difficult. The plants in the lowlands are more uniform, with some plants on the tepuis in the western highlands of Guyana as well. In the highlands, there are other forms, as in the Andes. Henderson and Galeano divide the kind in two varieties, the nominate Catinga var and var roraimae.

Variety Catinga

The nominate form is indicated by an orange or reddish Kronschaft, rarely it's green. Apical he often carries a mass of elongated scales. The side axes of the inflorescence are whitish brown. The petiole is 0-10, rarely up to 17 cm long. The leaflets are available from horizontal. The variety is found in the western Amazon region: Colombia (Amazonas, Caquetá, Guainía, Guaviare, Vaupés ), Venezuela (Amazonas, Bolívar ), Peru (Loreto ) and Brazil ( Amazon). It grows in open or dwarf forests on wet, poorly drained sites on white -sand soils and drainage in the area of black water, in up to 350 m above sea level. On a similar location, the variety grows in the south-west of the highlands of Guayana in Venezuela (Amazonas, Bolívar ), here in the open cloud forests in 1100-1500 m above sea level. The fruits are eaten among others, the fat Schwalm ( Steatornis caripensis ), which seems to be an important disseminator.

Variety roraima

The variety roraima is characterized by green, yellow-green or bluish green Kronenschäfte. You do not have any dandruff. 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 stand-off.

This variety is found in Venezuela (Amazonas, Bolívar ), Guyana, Ecuador ( Pastaza ) and Brazil ( Amazon). It grows on white -sand soils on wet or swampy lowland forest, cloud forest or on tepui plateaus in the highlands of Guyana. Rarely, it occurs also on the slopes of the Andes. It occurs in altitudes 900-2100 m. In some areas, it forms large, dominant stocks. The population in the Andes is geographically separated from the rest and grow here on other floors.

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 )

• Palmaceus
• Arecaceae