Geonoma frontinensis Burret (1930a: 170)

Henderson, Andrew, 2011, A revision of Geonoma (Arecaceae), Phytotaxa 17, pp. 1-271 : 76-77

24. Geonoma frontinensis Burret (1930a: 170) . Type: COLOMBIA. Antioquia: Frontino, 1400–1700 m,

September 1871, F. Lehmann 7323 (holotype B, destroyed, isotype K!).

Geonoma mucronata Burret (1930a: 171) . Type: COLOMBIA. Antioquia: Dos Quebradas, 1500 m, 7 January 1880, W. Kalbreyer 1334 (holotype B, destroyed). Neotype (designated by Bernal et al. 1989): COLOMBIA. Antioquia: Carretera San Carlos-Granada, Dos Quebradas, 4.5 km E of San Carlos, 1200 m, 20 September 1987, R. Bernal & L. Tobón 1383 (neotype COL!, isoneotypes MO!, NY!).

Plants 1.1(0.5–2.0) m tall; stems 0.2(0.2–0.3) m tall, solitary or clustered; internodes no data. Leaves 6(4–8) per stem, undivided or irregularly pinnate, not plicate, bases of blades running diagonally into the rachis; sheaths 30.0 cm long; petioles 68.8(26.0–110.0) cm long, drying green or yellowish; rachis 40.0(22.5–65.0) cm long, 3.3(2.0–4.5) mm in diameter; veins raised and rectangular in cross-section adaxially; pinnae 5(1–8) per side of rachis; basal pinna 35.5(19.0–47.5) cm long, 3.6(0.3–8.7) cm wide, forming an angle of 46(30– 61)° with the rachis; apical pinna 24.8(19.0–30.0) cm long, 9.8(2.0–21.5) cm wide, forming an angle of 26(20–34)° with the rachis. Inflorescences unbranched or branched 1 order; prophylls and peduncular bracts not ribbed with elongate, unbranched fibers, persistent; prophylls 19.8(13.4–26.2) cm long, not short and asymmetrically apiculate, the surfaces not ridged, without unequally wide ridges; peduncular bracts 20.2(14.3–26.5) cm long, well-developed, inserted 9.7(4.0–17.0) cm above the prophyll; peduncles 37.4(21.0–58.0) cm long, 2.9(1.6–4.5) mm in diameter; rachillae 2(1–4), 14.7(7.5–20.5) cm long, 3.9(2.9–5.2) mm in diameter, the surfaces without spiky, fibrous projections or ridges, drying brown or yellow-brown, without short, transverse ridges, not filiform and not narrowed between the flower pits; flower pits spirally arranged, densely hairy internally proximally and distally; proximal lips without a central notch before anthesis, not recurved after anthesis, hood-shaped at anthesis, sometimes splitting post-anthesis; proximal lips drying the same color as the rachillae; distal lips absent; staminate and pistillate petals not emergent, not valvate throughout; staminate flowers deciduous after anthesis; stamens 6; thecae diverging at anthesis, inserted almost directly onto the filament apices, the connectives bifid but scarcely developed; anthers short and curled over at anthesis; non-fertilized pistillate flowers persistent after anthesis; staminodial tubes crenulate or shallowly lobed at the apex, those of non-fertilized pistillate flowers not projecting and persistent after anthesis; fruits 6.7(6.0–8.4) mm long, 5.1(4.8–5.3) mm in diameter, the bases without a prominent stipe, the apices not conical, the surfaces not splitting at maturity, without fibers emerging, bumpy from the numerous, subepidermal, tangential, short fibers present, these coming to a point at fruit apices; locular epidermis without operculum, sculpted, usually also with a raised, meridional ridge, without pores.

Distribution and habitat:— From 1°12’– 7°14’N and 73°58’– 77°00’W on eastern slopes of the Western, Central, and Eastern Cordilleras in Colombia at 1560(1000–2030) m elevation in montane rainforest ( Fig. 19 ).

Taxonomic notes:— See notes under Geonoma euspatha .

Subspecific variation:— Three traits vary within this species (stem branching, leaf division, inflorescence branching). There is geographic discontinuity, but too few specimens to test for differences between areas.

Figures

FIGURE 19. Distribution maps of Geonoma fosteri, G. frontinensis, G. galeanoae, and G. gentryi.