Bactris martiana A.J.Hend.

  • Family

    Arecaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Bactris martiana A.J.Hend.

  • Primary Citation

    Bactris (Palmae)
    Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 79: 120. 2000

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Isotype -- A. J. Henderson 1630

  • Description

    Stems: Cespitose, forming small or large clumps, to 8 m tall, 3-5 cm diam., erect or often leaning, spiny on internodes.

    Leaves: 3-10; leaf spines black or brownish, terete, to 10 cm long, dense on sheath, petiole, and rachis; sheath 18-50 cm long, fibrous on margins; ocrea to 30 cm long; petiole 12-74 cm long; rachis 0.9-3 m long; pinnae 46-60 per side, regularly arranged, spreading in the same plane, linear or linear-lanceolate, with small spines on margins, with a metallic sheen on drying; middle pinnae 45-70 x 2-3 cm.

    Inflorescences: Interfoliar; peduncle 14-30 cm long, recurved, flattened, not spiny; prophyll 10-22 cm long; peduncular bract 20-40 cm long, moderately covered with black spines to 1.5 cm long; rachis absent; rachilla 1, 12-20 cm long, at anthesis glabrous.

    Triads: Regularly arranged; staminate flowers 7-10 mm long, persistent; sepal lobes 2.5-4 mm long; petals 7-10 mm long; stamens 6-10; pistillode small or absent; pistillate flowers to 6 mm long; calyx cupular, to 1 mm long; corolla tubular, to 5 mm long; staminodial ring free from the corolla, to 3.5 mm long.

    Fruits: 3.5-5.5 x 2-2.5 cm, congested, irregularly and narrowly obovoid, purple-black, sometimes minutely spinulose; mesocarp juicy; endocarp obovoid, the fertile pore displaced longitudinally and latitudinally; endocarp fibers free, numerous, with juice sacs attached; fruiting perianth with small, lobed calyx and much longer, scarcely lobed corolla, with prominent staminodial ring.

    Distribution: Colombia (Amazonas), Ecuador (Napo, Sucumbíos), Peru (Cusco, Loreto, Madre de Dios), and Brazil (Acre, Amazonas)

    Habitat: Margins of larger rivers in lowland forest, at 106-300 m elevation.

    Source: A. J. Henderson. 2000. Bactris (Palmae). Flora Neotropica Monograph. 79: 120-121.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Bactris martiana A.J.Hend.: [Article] Henderson, A. 2000. (Palmae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 79: 1-181.