Wettinia fascicularis
Wettinia (weh-tin-EE-ah) fascicularis (fah-sihk-oo-LAHR-iss) | |||||||
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Cauca Munchique, Colombia. Photo by Dr. Rodrigo Bernal/Palmweb. | |||||||
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Contents
Habitat and Distribution
Andean slopes in NW Colombia, SE Colombia and Eastern Ecuador, at 1200-2000 m elevation. A montane rainforest palm.Description
Canopy palm. Stem solitary, 5-20 m tall and 10-20 cm in diameter, smooth. Leaves 2.5-5 m long; pinnae 15-30 on each side, glabrous on both sides, longitudinally divided into 3-13 segments, these spreading in different planes, pendulous distally, the segments in the central part of the blade to 130 cm long, 1.5-6 cm wide. Inflorescences 3-11 per node; peduncle 10-35 cm long; rachis 10-30 cm long; branches 20-50; male inflorescence branches 1.5-3 cm long, the female to 12 cm long in fruit. Male flowers 6-10 mm long, with 9-19 stamens. Female flowers crowded along the branches, 8-12 mm long. Fruits brown, angled, finely warty and with soft yellow hairs, 3-6 cm long and 1.5-3.5 cm in diameter, forming a single elliptic mass, 20-30 x 15-25 cm. (Borchsenius F., Borgtoft-Pedersen H. and Baslev H. 1998. Manual to the Palms of Ecuador. AAU Reports 37. Department of Systematic Botany, University of Aarhus, Denmark in collaboration with Pontificia Universidad Catalica del Ecuador)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.
Plants from Ecuador and S Colombia are larger than those in N Colombia, and have been recognised as a separate species, Wettinia cladospadix. The infructescence strongly resembles that of W. verruculosa which, however, have entire pinnae and occur on the other side of the Andes. (Borchsenius F., Borgtoft-Pedersen H. and Baslev H. 1998. Manual to the Palms of Ecuador. AAU Reports 37. Department of Systematic Botany, University of Aarhus, Denmark in collaboration with Pontificia Universidad Catalica del Ecuador)/Palmweb.
Culture
Cold Hardiness Zone: 10a
Comments and Curiosities
Conservation: Confined to the Andes and particularly abundant along the western slopes of the western Cordillera, where large areas of forest still remain. Sub-populations of smaller trees in the northern part of the range are at some risk.
External Links
References
Phonetic spelling of Latin names by edric.
Special thanks to Geoff Stein, (Palmbob) for his hundreds of photos.
Special thanks to Palmweb.org, Dr. John Dransfield, Dr. Bill Baker & team, for their volumes of information and photos.
Glossary of Palm Terms; Based on the glossary in Dransfield, J., N.W. Uhl, C.B. Asmussen-Lange, W.J. Baker, M.M. Harley & C.E. Lewis. 2008. Genera Palmarum - Evolution and Classification of the Palms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. All images copyright of the artists and photographers (see images for credits).
Borchsenius F., Borgtoft-Pedersen H. and Baslev H. 1998. Manual to the Palms of Ecuador. AAU Reports 37. Department of Systematic Botany, University of Aarhus, Denmark in collaboration with Pontificia Universidad Catalica del Ecuador
Many Special Thanks to Ed Vaile for his long hours of tireless editing and numerous contributions.