''Chamaedorea costaricana'' is a species of

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 ...

in the genus ''

Chamaedorea ''Chamaedorea'' is a genus of 107 species of palms, native to subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas.Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, palms checklist''Chamaedorea''/ref>Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan ...

'', found in Central America. A common local name in Costa Rica is pacaya, though this is also used as a name for ''

Chamaedorea tepejilote ''Chamaedorea tepejilote'', also known as the pacaya palm, is a species of ''Chamaedorea'' palm tree found in the understory of the forests of southern Mexico, Central America, and northern Colombia. Uses The immature male inflorescences of ...

''.

Description

They grow in colonies, with short horizontal stems under or at ground level, forming dense or open clumps, up to 6 m high and 2-6 cm in diameter, with internodes 5-30 cm long. Leaves 4-6, are erect-patent,

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 ...

1-2 m long; with pinnae 20-26 on each side, slightly sigmoid or falcate, 25-40 cm long and 2.5-5 cm wide, long

acuminate The following terms are used to describe leaf plant morphology, morphology in the description and taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade ...

, 2 prominent nerves on each side of the main nerve,

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the ''rachi ...

100-120 cm long; tubular sheath, 20-60 cm long, with an elongated triangular extension opposite the petiole insertion, forming auriculated lobes on each side of the petiole. The petiole is up to 35 cm long, abaxially with a pale band that extends to the sheath. Infrafoliar

inflorescences In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's 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 main axis ( pe ...

, solitary, with peduncle 20-45 cm long, erect in flower, pendulum in fruit, bracts 5-8, rachis 10-20 cm long; inflorescences staminated with 15-30 splints, 20-30 cm long, flexuous and pendulous, green to yellow in flower, flowers 2.5-3.5 mm long and 2.5-3 mm wide, yellow-greenish, sepals free almost to the base, petals valved, free almost to the base; pistillate inflorescences with 10-20 slivers, 20-35 cm long, frequently only bifid, orange and bulging in fruit, flowers 3-3.5 mm long and 2-2.5 mm wide, in lax spirals, pale yellow, slightly sunken, sepals connate briefly at the base, petals imbricated almost to the apex, free. Fruits are globose to

subglobose This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary ...

, 7-10 mm in diameter, green when unripe and turning black or black-purple when ripe.

Distribution and ecology

It is found throughout

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, and

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

. It is a common species in humid or very humid forests,

cloud forests A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, ...

, and dwarf forests, at an altitude of 600-1650 meters. It tolerates full sun, but is found to prefer shade in hot, inland climates.

Bibliography

# Correa A., M. D., C. Galdames & M. N. S. Stapf. 2004. Cat. Pl. Vasc. Panamá 1–599. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama. # Grayum, M. H. 2003. Arecaceae. In: Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica, B.E. Hammel, M.H. Grayum, C. Herrera & N. Zamora (eds.). Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 92: 201–293. # Henderson, A., G. Galeano & R. Bernal. 1995. Field Guide Palms Americas 1–352. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. # Hodel, D. R. 1992. Chamaedorea Palms 1–338. The International Palm Society, Lawrence. # Hodel, D. R., J. J. C. Mont & R. Zuniga. 1995. Two new species of Chamaedorea from Honduras. Principes 39(4): 183–189. # Stevens, W. D., C. U. U., A. Pool & O. M. Montiel. 2001. Flora de Nicaragua. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 85: i–xlii, 1–2666.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5764252 costaricana Trees of Costa Rica Flora of Costa Rica Flora of Central America Flora of Mexico Plants described in 1859