Iriartea

''Iriartea'' is a genus in the palm family Arecaceae, native to Central and South America. The best-known species – and probably the only one – is ''Iriartea deltoidea'', which is found from Nicaragua, south into Bolivia and a great portion of Western Amazonian basin. It is the most common tree in many forests in which it occurs.

Names

It is known by such names as ''bombona'' (which can also refer to other palms, e.g. '' Attalea regia'') or ''cacho de vaca'' (which can refer to many other plants, like the Bignoniaceae ''Godmania aesculifolia'' or the orchid '' Myrmecophila humboldtii''). In the Murui Huitoto language of southwestern Colombia, it is called ''jɨagɨna'' or ''jɨaìgɨna'',Marín-Corba ''et al.'' (2005) in western Ecuador it is known as ''pambil'', and in Peru it is known as the ''pona'' palm.

Description

These palms are canopy trees growing to 20–35 m tall. ''I. deltoidea'' is easily recognized by the prominent bulge in the center of its trunk, and the stilt roots, which form a dense cone up to 1 m in diameter at the base. It can thus be easily be distinguished from ''Socratea exorrhiza'' (which also bears stilt roots), as the stilt roots of the former are much less tightly appressed upon one another. The leaves are up to 5 m long, and pinnate. The numerous pinnae are fan-shaped, and held in various planes. The fruit is a 2-cm diameter drupe, and primarily dispersed by bats and toucans.

Toucan foraging behavior can have quite distinct signature in young second-growth forest regeneration. In certain cases seedlings growing around a mature fruiting ''Iriartea'' palms may actually come from dozens of different trees hundreds of meters away.

Uses

The fruit are also eaten by humans, and the wood is used for construction and in handicraft.

''Iriartea'' timber is highly prized for housing, furniture, and tools. Various South American countries, including Ecuador, export ''Iriartea'' wood to the United States.

Taxonomy and systematics

Almost all species at one time placed in ''Iriartea'' have now been moved elsewhere or placed in synonymy with ''I. deltoidea''. ''Dictyocaryum'', ''Iriartella'', '' Socratea'' and '' Wettinia'' were split off from the ''Iriartea'' but are close relatives, together with the present genus forming the tribe Iriarteeae. Less closely related palms which were at one time presumed to be Iriarteeae are members of the genera ''Ceroxylon'', '' Drymophloeus'', and the monotypic ''Deckenia nobilis''.

There remain a few somewhat dubious taxa, published in ''L'Illustration Horticole'' in 1881. These may be synonyms or good species, but probably the former:

* '' Iriartea affinis'' H.Karst. ex Linden
* '' Iriartea costata'' Linden
* '' Iriartea glaucescens'' Linden
* '' Iriartea pygmaea'' Linden ('' nomen nudum'')
* '' Iriartea xanthorhiza'' Klotzsch ex Linden
* '' Iriartea zamorensis'' Linden

Footnotes

References

* (2004): World Checklist of Arecaceae &ndash
''Iriartea''
The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2008-APR-01.
* (2005): Utilidad del valor de uso en etnobotánica. Estudio en el departamento de Putumayo (Colombia) se Value usefulness in ethnobotany. Case study in Putumayo department (Colombia) ''Caldasia'' 27(1): 89-101 panish with English abstractbr>PDF fulltext

{{Taxonbar, from=Q141221

Iriarteeae
Monotypic Arecaceae genera
Trees of Peru
Taxa named by José Antonio Pavón Jiménez