Chamaedorea sartorii

Chamaedorea
(kahm-eh-doh-REH-ah)
sartorii (sar-TOR-ee)

Scientific Classification

Genus:	Chamaedorea (kahm-eh-doh-REH-ah)
Species:	sartorii (sar-TOR-ee)

Synonyms

Chamaedorea aurantiaca, Chamaedorea hartwegii, Chamaedorea mexicana

Native Continent

America

Morphology

Habit:	Solitary
Leaf type:	Pinnate

Culture

Survivability index

Common names

Tepejilote cimarron, tepejilote, tepejilotillo, tepejilote chiapaneco - Mexico.

Habitat and Distribution

Chamaedorea sartorii is found in Honduras, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico

Southwest. MEXICO. Veracruz. Puebla. Oaxaca. HONDURAS. Atlantida. Olancho. Wet or moist forest on the Atlantic slope; alt. 100-1,300 m elevation; often on limestone.

Description

Habit: solitary, slender, erect, to 3-4 m tall. Stem: 0.8-1.6 cm in diam., green, prominently ringed, internodes 3-30 cm long. Leaves: 3-6 per crown, spreading, pinnate; sheath 11-23 cm long, tubular, obliquely open, longitudinally striate-nerved; petiole 17-45 cm long, slightly grooved and green above, rounded and pale below; rachis 30-50 cm long, ± prominently and sharply angled and green above, rounded and pale below; pinnae 5-10 on each side of rachis, 20-40 x 4-7 cm, lanceolate to long-Ianceolate, long-acuminate, oblique basally, sigmoid, falcate, ± thick, deep lustrous green, a central midrib and 2 marginal primary nerves, these rounded, conspicuous, 3 secondaries on each side of midrib, tertiaries numerous, faint. Inflorescences: interfoliar but often infrafoliar in fruit, solitary, erect, 30-70 cm long; peduncles 20-50 cm long, green in flower, orange in fruit; bracts 4-6, upper one the largest, to 25 cm long, slender, fibrous, longitudinally striate-nerved, brown in flower; rachises 2-15 cm long, green in flower, orange in fruit. Staminate with 30 rachillae, these 15-25 cm long, slender, pendulous, flexuous, green. Pistillate with 4-8 rachillae, these 15-20 cm long, erect, becoming spreading in fruit, sharply angled and light green in flower, rounded, thicker, fleshy, and orange-red in fruit. Flowers: Staminate in moderately dense spirals, 2.5 x 2.5-3 mm, depressed-globose, orange, slightly sunken in depressions 1.5-2 mm across; calyx 1.25 x 2 mm, deeply lobed, white, sepals connate in basal 1/2, rounded to acute apically, slightly membranous, nerveless; petals 2 x 2 mm, connate briefly basally, free and valvate apically, cupped over stamens, acute, thin, slightly fleshy, nerved on inside; stamens equalling pistillode, filaments white, 0.75-1 mm long, slightly connate basally, anthers 1-1.25 mm long, narrowly oblong, yellow; pistillode shorter than petals, columnar, flared abruptly apically, expanded basally, whitish. Pistillate in remote spirals, 2.5 x 3 mm, globose, slightly sunken in rounded depressions 2-3 mm across, orange to red, slightly aromatic; calyx 1 x 2.5 mm, deeply lobed, pale green to white, sepals connate and/or imbricate briefly basally, rounded to acute apically, thin, nerveless; petals 2.5 x 1.5-2 mm, connate in basal 1/2, free and valvate apically, acute, cup-shaped, thick, fleshy, very slightly nerved on inside; staminodes 6, large, slightly membranous, free, inserted at base of pistil; pistil 1.5 x 1.25-1.5 mm, sub-globose, pale green to white, stigma lobes separated, rounded, recurved, clear-colored. Fruits: 9.5-12.5 x 7-8 mm, ellipsoid-ovoid, black, epicarp transparent, thin, mesocarp slightly fleshy, thin, green, mucilaginous, aromatic, endocarp fibrous-nerved; seeds 7-10 x 5-6 mm, ellipsoid. (Hodel, D.R. 1992)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.