Kahn, Francis

Mejia, K.

Horizon / Pleins textes

. . -  5 
rc 
19881 
Principes, 32(2), 1988, pp. 69-72 
KAHN AND MEJIA: NEW CHELYOCARPUS 
A New Species of Chelyocarpus 
(Palmae, Coryphoideae) From 
Peruvian Amazonia 
FRANCIS KAHN AND KEMBER MEJIA 
ORSTOM, Apartado postal 18-1209, Lima, Peru and IIAP, Apartado postal 784, Iquitos, Peru 
Species richness of palms is very high 
in “terra firme” forests of the Amazon 
basin, particularly in the central and west- 
ern regions (Kahn et al., in press). Diver- 
sity at the generic level is clearly highest 
in the western part: 31 of the 35 native 
Amazonian genera are found in Peruvian 
forests, among them, twelve (Aiphanes, 
Catoblastus, Chamaedorea, Chelyocar- 
pus, Dictyocaryum, Iriartea,  I taya ,  
Pholidostachp, Phytelephas, Prestoea, 
K’endlandiella, and Réttinia) do not reach 
central and eastern Amazonia. 
Two of the three species of Chelyocar- 
pus occur ín Peruvian Amazonia, as does 
the only species of the related genus Itaya 
(Moore 1972). Thus, discovering a new 
Peruvian Chel-yocarpus is not very sur- 
prising, especially when the species is found 
in forests rarely explored by botanists. This 
new palm is, however, strikingly distinct 
from the three previously-known species. 
Chelyocarpus repens F. Kahn et K. 
Mejia sp. nov. (Figs. 1-6). 
W 
Caulis procumbens ad 1 m longus, foliis 
10-20. Lamina 0.7 m longa, 1.2 m lata, 
bipartita, laterilater in 4-6 segmenta elon- 
gato-cuneata partita, supra viridis, subtus 
alba. Inflorescentia erecta, 0.35 m longa, 
I bracteis sterilibus 2; rhachis 5-8 cm longa 
ad apicem compressa; rami 2 cm longi. 
Flores 4 mm alti; Perianthium uniseriatum 
,:plerumque 6-lobatum, 2.5 mm altum; 
stamina 4-8 plerumque 6; carpella 3-5 
raro 1, 2, 6. Fructus globosus, 2.5 cm 
diametro, epicarpio laevi. Embryo subter 
69 
dimidium. Typus: Peru, Kahn & Mejia 
1974 (holotypus USM; isotypus NY). 
Trunk pale-brown, procumbent, up to 
1 m long and 6-8 cm diam., sometimes 
erect, up to 0.6 m high. Roots produced 
at the lower side along the trunk, with 
secondary, white, short, spiny roots. Leaves 
10-20; sheath 0.25-0.3 m long, densely 
pale-brown appressed villous; petiole up to 
1.8 m long, biconvex and rhombic in sec- 
tion with obtuse margins distally, furfura- 
ceous lepidote on the lower side; hastula 
deltoid, up to 1.5 cm high 1 cm wide; 
blade green above, white below, lower sur- 
face covered with a continuous layer of 
thin, white, membranaceous scales, these 
rubbing off on contact, 0.75 m high 1.2 
m wide, divided to within 1.5 cm of the 
base, laterally divided into 4-6 elongate- 
cuneate many-ribbed segments, to 0.75 m 
long and 0.2 m wide, the external often 
acute, each many-ribbed segment divided 
into 2-7 acute 1-ribbed segments, 2-8 cm 
long and 1.5-4 cm wide, these with the 
midrib prominent below with up to 3 lateral 
nerves and several finer tertiary nerves on 
each side. Inflorescence erect, 1 or 2, rarely 
more, among petiole bases, ca. 0.35 m 
long, branching to 1 or 2 orders; peduncle 
0.24-0.28 m long, strongly flattened, pale- 
brown appressed villous, turning glabrate, 
bearing a prophyll at 0.18-0.20 m from 
the base, pale-brown tomentose then gla- 
brate, 9-11 cm long, and a peduncular 
bract at 0.22-0.28 m from the base, whit- 
ish floccose tomentose at anthesis, 5-7 cm 
long; rachis flattened, 5-8 cm long, 1-2.5 
cm wide at base, with 25-35 first order 
ORSTOM Fonds Documentaire 
70 PRINCIPES [VOL. 32 
a 
d 
1. Chelyocarpus repens. a-inflorescence with prophyll and one peduncular bract. b-palmate leaf with tips 
of many pointed and one-pointed segments. c-flower with uniseriate, lobed perianth, with basally broad, tapered 
filaments. and exserted anthers. d-inserted carpels, each with a hemianatropous ovule. e-fruit and seed with 
embryo in the lowe; third. (See description for scale.) s 
19881 KAHN AND MEJIA: NEW CHELYOCARPUS 71 
7, 
1 
9 .  Chelyocarpus repens, an understory palm in Amazonian terra firme forests of Peru. Its procumbent stem 
creeps under the litter. 3. Inflorescence of Chelyocarpus repens. 4. Infrutescence of Che¿.yocarpus repens. 5. 
A curculionid has perforated the fruit and is eating the endosperm. 6.  After the meal . . . . 
# 
72 P R I N C I P E S  [VOL. 32 
branches, to 0.5 cm long, strongly flat- 
tened and wider next to the rachis, each 
subtended by a slender, flattened, tomen- 
tose bract, up to 1.8 cm long; rachillae up 
to 2 cm long, adnate to the first order 
branch, densely covered by flowers. Some 
flowers borne on rachis and branches. 
Flowers strongly scented, creamy turn- 
ing dark brown when dry, sessile, 4 mm 
high, with a slender bract, 2.5 mm long; 
perianth uniseriate, 2.5 mm high, often 
irregularly 6-lobed, each lobe irregularly 
denticulate; stamens 4-8, usually 6, fila- 
ments broad and thick basally, tapered to 
the exserted anthers, often connate basally 
or throughout; carpels 1-6, most fre- 
quently 3, ca. 1.5 mm high; style short, 
recurved; stigma papillate; perianth in fruit 
2.5 mm high. Fruit greenish, globose, 2.5 
cm high; epicarp rather smooth, not tes- 
sellate, mesocarp whitish, thin. Seed 
depressed globose to globose, ca. 1.8 cm 
high; embryo in the lower third. Only one 
carpel giving fruit, rarely two, then fruits 
connate basally. 
Distribution and Ecology: Type local- 
ity is near Jenaro Herrera village (4’555; 
73’40’W) in the lower Ucayali River basin, 
Loreto, Peru. This species was also col- 
lected in Yaguasyacu River (2’40’s; 
72”00’W), tributary of Ampiyacu River 
(Plowman et al., no. 6772), Loreto, Peru. 
In the type locality, this understory palm 
occurs in high density on slopes (306 palms, 
among them 18 seedlings, were counted 
on 0.62 ha) in “terra firme” forest on 
acrisol (FAO), also found in limit with sea- 
sonal swamp forest, but in low density. 
Specimens Examined: Kahn & Mejia 
1974 (holotype USM, isotype NY), fl. fr., 
13 Nov. 1986; I< & ¡VI 1973 (NY), fl. fr., 
13 Nov. 1986; K & M 1972 (BH, K), fl., 
13  Nov. 1986; I< & &I 2049 (P), fl. 6 
May 1987; Blanc 825 (USNl), fr., Aug. 
1985; Mejia 707 (K), fr., Aug. 1985; I( 
& M 2003 (INPA), fr., 15 Dec. 1986; I< 
& M 2004 (MPEG), fr., 15  Dec. 1986; 
I< & M 2005 (AMAZ), fr. 15  Dec. 1986; 
K & M 2006 (CAY), fr. 15  Dec. 1986; 
I< & M 2008 (AAU), fr., 15  Dec. 1986; 
K & M 2021 (BH), fr., 20 Mar. 1987; 
I< & M 2068 (P), fr., 21 July 1987. All 
these vouchers were collected in the type 
locality. Plowman. et a.1. 6772 (BH), fr., 
Mar. 1977 (see above). 
Chelyocarpus repen.s differs from the 
three other species. C. chuco (Martius) H. 
E. Moore, C. dianeurus (Burret) H. E. 
Moore, and C. ulei Dammer (Moore 1972) 
by its uniseriate perianth, its higher num- 
ber of carpels, its smaller, erect inflores- 
cence with only one peduncular bract and 
by its procumbent, short stem, creeping in 
the litter and rooting at the lower side. 
This character is recorded in the epithet. 
C. repens is a beautiful, elegant palm 
with slender erect petioles, and palmate 
blades which are silvery-white below. This 
procumbent species could have a potential 
as an indoor ornamental. However, the 
species is not frequent. It has been col- 
lected in only two localities in Peruvian 
Amazonia. Moreover, fruits are not abun- 
dant, with at most 20-50 per infrutes- 
cence, and many fruits are perforated by 
a curculionid beetle which eats the endo- 
sperm and destroys the seed (Figs. 5, 6). 
Near Jenaro Herrera village, increasing 
deforestation by shifting cultivation and 
pasture extension threatens the type pop- 
ulation with extinction. 
Acknowledgments 
This work was supported by the inter- 
national agreement ORSTOM. France/ 
IIAP, Peru. We are indebted to J.’ Drans- 
field for his valuable comments on the 
manuscript. We would further like to thank 
H. Clark for his helpful assistance on the 
English text. 
LITERATURE CITED 
KAHN, F., MEJIA, K., AND A. DE CASTRO. (in press). 
Species richness and density of palms in terra 
firme forests of Amazonia. Biotropica. 
MOORE, H. E., JR. 1972. Chelyocarpus and its 
allies Cryosophila and Itayu (Palmae). Prin- 
cipes 16: 67-88. 


A new species of Chelyocarpus (Palmae, Coryphoideae) from Peruvian Amazonia

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