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Project Name Data (Last Modified On 10/24/2012)
 

Flora Data (Last Modified On 10/24/2012)
Genus CHAMAEDOREA Willd.
Common Dorea Palms
PlaceOfPublication Sp. P1. 4:638, 800. 1806.
Synonym Nunnezharia Ruiz & Pav. Fl. Peruv. & Chil. Prodr. 147. 1794. Nomen rejiciendum. Nunnezia Willd. Sp. P1. 4:1154. 1806. Stachyophorbe Liebm. in Oevers. Dansk Vid. Selsk. 1845:8. 1846. Collinia Liebm. ex Mart. Hist. Nat. Palm. 3:308. 1849. Siephanostachys Klotzsch ex Oerst. in Kjoeb. Vidensk. Meddel. 1858:26. 1859. Spathoscaphe Oerst. op. cit. 29. 1859. Eleutheropetalum Wendl. ex Oerst. op. cit. 6. 1859. Dasystachys Oerst. op. cit. 25. 1859. Kinetostigma Dammer, in Notizbl. Bot. Gart. u. Mus. Berlin 4:171. 1905.
Description Small dioecious unarmed palms, mostly arundinaceous with slender ringed or jointed canes or trunks: leaves pinnate, pinnatisect or pinnately veined, minute flowers of differing morphology not distinctly sunken in the rachis or only appar- ently so when crowded, the peduncles bearing few or several sheathing bracts or spathes that may fall or become shredded before fruiting and leave scars or rings that are marks of the genus: spadices inter- or infrafoliar: perianth-parts in two series of 3 each but variously connate and sometimes each series united into one body; stamens 6, often connate: fruit small, hard or thinly succulent only on the exterior, ellipsoid, oblong, somewhat pyriform, stigma basal, seed single, albumen plane (not runinate).
Note About 100 species, from Mexico to Peru and Brazil, not in the West Indies, a few of them grown in conservatories for ornament and sometimes planted in warm countries. They are mostly woods palms, favoring moist or shaded conditions. Chamaedorea is a troublesome genus to the taxonomist because the species are so many, numbers of them local, marks between them often technical and close, both sexes not likely to be represented in collections, and the original- descriptions often so brief or inadequate as not to be identifiable. The species may be confused with the Geonomas, but the two genera are distinct and are readily distinguished by the multiple spathes or bracts on the peduncle of Chamnaedorea, by absence of scars on the same rachilla representing two sexes, and lack of sunken pits where flowers and fruits are borne, the scars or- placements being single and simple rather than two or three together. The Dorea Palms abound in sigmoid pinnae or lobes, curving in opposite directions like the long or old-fashioned letter S or the Greek letter X, the two sides not being the same and the veins strongly incurved at base. In some cases the pinnae are falcate rather than sigmoid, the two sides not greatly unlike and not- bulging or gibbous, and ribs little if at all incurving at base.
Key a. Leaf simple (of one piece), bilobed at apex. -b Margins of leaf entire or not serrate - 1. C. TERRYORUM bb. Margins deeply serrate -2. C. COCLENSIS aa. Leaf pinnate, with several or many pinnae. b. Rachillae of pistillate spadix very short, not more than 4 cm. long, and the upper ones much shorter - - 3. C. BRACHYCLADA bb. Rachillae much-longer. c. Leaf-segments or pinnae not sigmoid or falcate or with curved and unequal sides, tapering straightway to apex. d. Pinnae above 50 cm. long, 3-5 cm. broad - - 4. C. WOODSONIANA dd. Pinnae 25 cm. or less long, 2 cm. or less broad --- __ 5. C. SEIBERTII cc. Leaf-segments or pinnae not straight but with bulging or unequal sides, more or less sigmoid or falcate, mostly curved at the end, broadest at about the middle, veins usually curving to narrowed base. d. Pistillate spadix a simple much-congested spike: pinnae about 9 pairs, equally spaced --- -- 6. C. ALLENII dd. Pistillate- spadix branched (of 2 or more rachillae). e. Plant acaulescent and very small, usually not exceeding 1 m. tall over all and commonly much less: pinnae small, 7-9 or more pairs. f. Pinnae 17 cm. or less long and one-third as broad: stam- inate spadix or cluster branched from near top of peduncle and therefore lacking a continuing rachis - - 7. C. MICROPHYLLA ff. Pinnae of similar length as in f but only one-fifth as broad as long: staminate spadix with a continuing rachis and the rachillae therefore lateral - -- -- 8. C. PYGMAEA ee. Plant caulescent, the trunk or cane itself usually 1 m. or more tall: leaves various, pinnae 20 cm. or more long. f. Pinnae prominently broad, 6-13 cm. wide, markedly sig- moid. g. Apex of pinnae produced into slender tail-like points: pinnae about one-third as broad as long - -- 9. C. LUCIDIFRONS gg. Apex of pinnae acuminate, not caudate: widest pinnae nearly or quite one-half as broad as long. h. Main nerves of pinnae many and prominent, usually a dozen or more: pinnae thin, brittle and papery _ 10. C. LATIPINNA hh. Main nerves of pinnae fewer, usually not more than 6, and not outstanding: pinnae of good substance: fruit black -: - ----11. C. FLAVOVIRENS ff. Pinnae prominently narrow or at least not very broad, one- fourth or less as broad as long. g. Length of, pinnae 30 cm. or less, the nerves or ribs not very pronounced. h. Petiole slender, usually 10 cm. or more long, not sud- denly expanded at base. i. Shape of pinnae much broader than linear and noticeably sigmoid. j. Rachis of leaf-blade without long vacancies on one side or the other due to absence of pinnae (which are more or less paired even though op- posite). k. Apex of pinnae narrowing to very slender curved long point or cauda: fruit yellow - 12. C. PACAYA kk. Apex of pinnae narrow but not curved - 13. C. HAGENIORUM jj. Rachis with long nude space on one side or the other due to absence of two or three pinnae; apex acuminate but upwardly curved - .14. C. WEDELIANA ii. Shape of pinnae long-linear, not more than one-fifth as broad as long, only indifferently sigmoid-__ 15. C. LINEARIA hh. Petiole very short and stout, only 3-4 cm. long, con- cave on upper face, with quickly expanded striate base--?1 _ _ _ _ _ ______________16. C. PITTIERI gg. Length of pinnae 50 cm. and more, the nerves or ribs conspicuously parallel and prominent. h. Width and length of pinnae uniform or nearly so along the rachis. i. Upper half of pinnae strongly falcate, usually caudate- --- --_--.- 17. C. WENDLANDIANA ii. Upper half of pinnae not markedly curved or falcate -__.__------- 18. C. SCHERYI hh. Width, and sometimes the length, of pinnae very un- even or irregular on the same blade _ - -19. C. FALCARIA
 
 
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