Attalea crassispatha

Attalea (at-tahl-EH-ah) crassispatha (krahs-see-SPAH-tah)
Miami, Florida. Photo by Kyle Wicomb.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Attalea (at-tahl-EH-ah) Species: crassispatha (krahs-see-SPAH-tah)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
America
Morphology
Habit: Solitary Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
Carossier oil palm, carroussier, côrossié, petit coco, kawosie, ti koko, kowos, kokowos, kolowosh and kowos etranjè.

Habitat and Distribution

SW. Haiti. Attalea crassispatha is endemic to the southern peninsula of Haiti,

Photo-evolutionofplants.org

where approximately 25–30 individual palms are thought to survive. It is the only member of the subtribe Attaleinae native to the Greater Antilles. The species is restricted to four localities within two major watersheds, the Cavaillon and Côtes-de-Fer, where it grows from sea level to 450 m in elevation. (cmsdata.iucn.org)

Description

Attalea crassispatha (Mart.) Burret is a tall (to 20 m), solitary palm bearing a dense crown of pinnate leaves, each leaf up to 5 m long and bearing up to 165 pairs of leaflets. Overall, the palm can resemble a robust coconut palm. The inflorescence bears a thick, woody, furrowed peduncular bract. The staminate flowers bear three lance-shaped petals that are not fused together at their bases and eight or nine stamens. The anthers are curled and shorter than the petals. The fruits are egg-shaped, about 3 cm long. Each fruit has a hard stone (endocarp) enclosing a single seed. (cmsdata.iucn.org) Editing by edric.

Attalea crassispatha has a single stem which grows up to 20 metres (66 ft) tall. The stem is grey, up to 35 centimetres (14 in) in diameter, and can be columnar, or slightly swollen at the base of the middle of the stem. Individuals bear 15 to 19 pinnately compound leaves—leaves in which rows of leaflets emerge on either side of the axis of the leaf in a feather-like or fern-like pattern—with 127 to 165 pairs of leaflets. Leaves consist of a leaf sheath which wraps around the trunk, a rachis, from which the leaflets emerge, and a petiole, which connects the leaf sheath with the rachis. The leaf sheath is open (it does not wrap completely around the stem); when the leaf is shed, the leaf sheath detached cleanly from the stem. The sheath and petiole combined are 1.3 to 1.35 m (4 ft 3 in to 4 ft 5 in) long, while the rachis is 3.2 to 4 m (10 to 13 ft) long. The inflorescences are born among the leaves. They are either predominantly male, or have a mixture of male and female flowers. The inflorescence consists of a main axis—the peduncle and the rachis—and a series of smaller branches, the rachillae. The rachillae, which bear the flowers, emerge from the rachis. The peduncle is the main stalk, connecting the rachis with the stem. The peduncle, the main stalk of the inflorescence, is no more than 20 cm (7.9 in) long and up to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter. The rachis is up to 40 cm (16 in) while the rachillae, which can number in the hundreds, reach a length of about 15 cm (5.9 in). The fruit is reddish when ripe. The seeds, which are about 2 cm (0.79 in) long and 2 cm (0.79 in) in diameter are covered by a 5 millimetres (0.20 in) mesocarp and a 3 mm (0.12 in) endocarp. (Dr.'s Andrew J. Henderson & Michael Balick)

Culture

Cold Hardiness Zone: 10b