''Aphandra'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plants Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

family native to the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plants and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular Taxon, taxa, life forms, structure, Spatial ecology, spatial extent, or any other specific Botany, botanic ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

(

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

). Its only species is ''Aphandra natalia'', sometimes called mastodon palm or fiber palm, and is used by indigenous peoples in the construction of

brooms A broom (also known as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool, consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a v ...

and other products.Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) ''An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms''. Portland: Timber Press. / (Page 250) This plant is commercially exploited for its

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from " eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

fruits, and for its leaf sheath and petiole fibers. This fiber is almost equal to the fiber extracted from '' Attalea funifera'' and '' Leopoldinia piassaba'', which is called

piassava Piassava, also piaçava (), piaçaba (), piasaba, pissaba, piassaba, and piaçá (),The piaçá form occurs mostly in Portugal and is considered less correct by some dictionaries. is a fibrous product of Brazilian palm species '' Attalea funifera' ...

. The genus name is a combination of '' Ammandra'' and ''

Phytelephas ''Phytelephas'' is a genus containing six known species of dioecious Arecaceae, palms (family (biology), family Arecaceae), occurring from southern Panama along the Andes to Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, northwestern Brazil, and Peru. They are com ...

'', two closely related palm genera, and the epithet "''natalia''" honors

Natalie Uhl Natalie Whitford Uhl (1919–2017) was an American botanistIPNI: Natalie Whitf ...

, modern palm taxonomist.

Description

''Aphandra natalia'' grows from single trunks, reaching over 12 m in height, being gray to tan in color. These trees usually remain covered in the bases of old leaves giving them a seeming trunk diameter of nearly 1 meter, however the actual trunk size when cleaned of the leaf bases is nearer to 30 cm. The vine-like, pendent fibers of the leaf bases resemble those of '' Leopoldinia piassaba'' from which brooms are also made. The actual

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

of ''A. natalia'' are usually 4.5 m in length but are borne on long, 2.5 m petioles giving them an overall length of 7 m. The leaflets are reduplicate,

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and ...

ly cleft and dark green in color.Uhl, Natalie W. and Dransfield, John (1987) ''Genera Palmarum - A classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore''. Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press. / They are sexually

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

and markedly dimorphic; male plants produce an unusual 2.75 m

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

with many clustered branches of yellow

flowers Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

with females producing shorter tufts of yellow flowers surrounded by green to brown bracts. A mature infructescence resembles "a medieval club with spikes if the large amount of hairy black fiber was removed".

Distribution and habitat

''A. natalia'' grows in eastern

through northern

to western

reaching altitudes of 800 m. They are an under-story palm in the

stretching to the foothills of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

References

External links

* *
West Amazonian Piassaba Fiber Aphandra natalia
documenting traditional knowledge about a little-known source of plant fiber and its sustainable management

{{Taxonbar, from=Q290458 Ceroxyloideae Trees of the Amazon rainforest Trees of Ecuador Trees of Brazil Trees of Peru Monotypic Arecaceae genera Dioecious plants