Synechanthus warscewiczianus

Synechanthus (sihn-eh-KAHN-tuhs) warscewiczianus (vahrs-eh-vihk'-zee-AH-nohs)
Ecuador. Photo-AAU palm archive.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Synechanthus (sihn-eh-KAHN-tuhs) Species: warscewiczianus (vahrs-eh-vihk'-zee-AH-nohs)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
America
Morphology
Habit: Clustering, rarely solitary Leaf type: Pinnate, sparsely divided.
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
Bola Palme, Palmilla

Habitat and Distribution

Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panamá. Costa Rica to Ecuador,

Hawaii. Photo by Geoff Stein

below 1200 m elevation. Common in somewhat seasonal tropical moist forest W of the Andes and sometimes dominant in the shrub layer. (Borchsenius, F. 1998)/Palmweb.

Description

Understorey palm. Stems clustered, to 4 m tall and 3.5 cm in diameter, rarely taller. Leaves with blade to 150 cm long, divided into 6-32 unequal to nearly equal, sigmoid to falcate pinnae on each side, the central ones 40-60 x 1.5-40 cm; leaf axis green and smooth. Inflorescence once branched, to 80 cm long, with up to 75, long and slender, spreading branches. Flowers minute, yellow, arranged in linear groups of 5-13 male flowers above a basal female one. Fruits ellipsoid, ca. 2 cm long, yellow to orange, turning bright red at full maturity, very soft when ripe. (Borchsenius, F. 1998)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.

Comments and Curiosities

Uses: The Colorados at Santo Domingo prepare a dye by macerating the leaves in cold water. Fruits are edible when boiled. The Cayapas believe it is inhabited by evil spirits from the forest. They do not eat it, but say that birds are fond of its fruits.

"This palm can be grown in Southern California but is not as happy here as it is in the tropics... more borderline than it's solitary cousin, S fibrosa. This one is almost always a clustering palm and, like S fibrosa, looks a lot like a Chamaedorea species. It has tall, thin, ringed, bamboo-like canes topped with partially split, pinnate leaves, usually with the distal leaflets wider than all the rest. Seeds are bright red when ripe. Does not like sunlight directly on it, even in the tropics." (Geoff Stein)

"It is a solitary palm stems (at least apparently) or multiple 0.6 to 5.0 m high and 1.5 to 7.0 cm in diameter The petioles, beyond the sheath, measured from 18.5 to 65.0 cm long; the leaf blades are simple or (more often) pinnately compound, the rachis is from 67 to 128 cm long; simple sheets are bifid at the apex, whereas if they are pinnate, presents two or five leaflets 34 per side, more or less regular or irregularly spaced, arranged in a single plane, equal or unequal, measure from 19.0 to 60 5 by 0.9 to 13.5 cm (subterminal), are more or less straight. The inflorescences are branched racemosely; the stem is (24-) 28-73 (-78) cm long; rachis measured (5,2-) from 7.4 to 20.0 (-23.0) cm long; about 17 or 25 to 61 and glabrous rachillae are 8 to 48 cm long; about 6-15 staminate flowers by acervulus, measuring 0.5 to 1.0 mm long, are whitish to yellowish or orange; has three stamens inflexed in the long-exserted at anthesis button; anthers are much shorter than the filaments; pistillate flowers are 0.8 to 1.0 mm. Ripe fruits are 1.2 to 2.7 0.6 to 1.1 cm, subglobose (especially in the lowlands of the Pacific) or ovoid (rarely) to narrowly or broadly oblong-ellipsoid (often more or less falcate), yellow to orange or red." (Dr. Reinaldo Aguilar)