Bactris horridispatha

Bactris (BAHK-triss) horridispatha (hohr-reed-ih-SPAH-tah)
Bahia, Brazil. Photo by Dr. Alex Popovkin.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Bactris (BAHK-triss) Species: horridispatha (hohr-reed-ih-SPAH-tah)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
America
Morphology
Habit: Clustering & caespitose. Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
Brazil: baralhá, marajá, tucum, tucum amarelo.

Habitat and Distribution

Brazil (Bahia).

Bahia, Brazil. Photo by Dr. Alex Popovkin.

Restinga forest or lowland rain forest on non-flooded forest, at 20-100 m elevation.

Description

Stems cespitose, 1-6 m tall, 1.5-3 cm in diam., spiny on internodes. Leaves 3-8 per crown; leaf spines scattered or clustered, yellowish brown or dark brown, darker at base and apex, tomentose, somewhat flattened, to 7 cm long, dense on sheath and lateral surfaces of petiole, fewer on abaxial surface of rachis; sheath 25-30 cm long, sheath, petiole, and rachis brown-tomentose; ocrea to 10 cm long; petiole 12-70 cm long; rachis 0.6-1.5 m long; pinnae 15-26, regularly arranged, spreading in the same plane, lanceolate; middle pinnae 29-66 x 3-8 cm. Inflorescences interfoliar; peduncle 11-27 cm long, slightly curved, not spiny; prophyll 10-16 cm long; peduncular bract 23-46 cm long, densely covered with black, brown or yellow, flattened, appressed spines to 3 cm long; rachis 6-14 cm long; rachillae 1-5,5-11 cm long, 2-5 mm in diam.; triads irregularly arranged among paired or solitary staminate flowers; staminate flowers not seen; pistillate flowers 5-10 mm long; calyx tubular, 1-5 mm long; corolla tubular, 4-10 mm long; staminodes minute or absent; fruits 2.3-2.5 cm in diam., ellipsoid, purple-black, with brown scales; mesocarp juicy; endocarp obovoid, the sterile pores displaced longitudinally; endocarp fibers numerous, with juice sacs attached; fruiting perianth with regularly lobed, 0.5 cm long calyx and regularly lobed, 1 cm long corolla, without staminodial ring. (Henderson, A.J., Bactris (Palmae) in Flora Neotropica Monographs 79. 2000)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.

Bactris horridispatha is diagnosed by its to 7 cm long, yellowish brown leaf spines, regularly arranged pinnae, and 1-5, thick, short rachillae. It is named for the dense covering of leaf spines. (Henderson, A.J., Bactris (Palmae) in Flora Neotropica Monographs 79. 2000)

Culture

Cold Hardiness Zone: 10a

Comments and Curiosities

Conservation: Bactris horridispatha is listed as Vulnerable. The Bahia coastal forest, where this species occurs, is under severe threat, mostly from the conversion of habitat into pasture land. The extent of occurrence (EOO) is approximately 10,712 km2, it is known from four locations and based on the current rate of deforestation there is a decline in the extent and quality of the habitat. (IUCN Red list)