Geonoma undata subsp. edulis (Wendland ex Spruce) Henderson

Henderson, Andrew, 2011, A revision of Geonoma (Arecaceae), Phytotaxa 17, pp. 1-271 : 158-159

67d. Geonoma undata subsp. edulis (Wendland ex Spruce) Henderson , comb. & stat. nov.

Basionym: Geonoma edulis Wendland ex Spruce (1871: 106) . Type: COSTA RICA. Cartago: Turrialba, 1857, H. Wendland s.n. (holotype K!).

Geonoma seleri Burret (1930a: 211) . Type: GUATEMALA. Huehuetenango: Yalambohoch, no date, E. Seler 2757 (holotype B, destroyed). Neotype (designated by de Nevers & Grayum 1998): GUATEMALA. Alta Vera Paz: between Sepacuite and Panzas, 24 June 1904, O. Cook & Doyle 327 (neotype US!).

Geonoma polyneura Burret (1932b: 500) . Type: GUATEMALA. Alta Vera Paz: near Finca Sepacuite, 19 March 1902, O. Cook & R. Griggs 36 (holotype US!, isotype BH!).

Leaves veins raised and rectangular in cross-section adaxially; basal pinna 4.9(0.8–13.7) cm wide; apical pinna 12.6(5.7–23.2) cm wide. Inflorescences prophyll margins with irregular, spine-like projections; flower pits usually spirally arranged, not distantly spaced.

Distribution and habitat:— From 7°18’– 16°19’N and 80°06’– 93°15’W in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama at 1523(850–2400) m elevation in lowland or montane rainforest ( Fig. 42 ).

There is geographic discontinuity and specimens occur in two areas separated by the lowlands of southern Nicaragua. There are few significant differences in variables between specimens from these two areas (basal pinna length, basal pinna width, prophyll length). There is variation in pit arrangement throughout the range of the subspecies, from spirally arranged to irregularly decussate or tricussate. A few specimens have the pits loosely spiraled proximally and tricussate or decussate distally, or tricussate proximally and decussate distally.

One specimen (Evans 1459) from Honduras is larger in inflorescence size than other specimens from that area and has a narrow, elongate prophyll, more like that of subsp. hoffmanniana .

The range of this subspecies overlaps with that of subsp. hoffmanniana in several places—northern Nicaragua, Atlantic and Pacific slopes of the Central Cordillera in Costa Rica, and both slopes on the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica and Panama. In this last area specimens are much larger in size than those from other areas (as are most specimens of subsp. hoffmanniana , which see). Hammel (2003) considered that specimens of subsp. edulis (as G. edulis ) and larger, sympatric specimens of subsp. hoffmanniana (as G. hoffmanniana ) were ‘virtually indistinguishable’ in this area.

All specimens from the Cordillera de Talamanca and all others from Panama have much thicker peduncles than other specimens.

Figures

FIGURE 42. Distribution maps of Geonoma undata subsp. undata, G. undata subsp. appunniana, G. undata subsp. dussiana, and G. undata subsp. edulis.