Kahn, Francis

Horizon / Pleins textes

88 P R I N C I P E S  [VOL. 32 
Principes, 32(2), 1988, p. 88 
PALM BRIEF 
A Distichous Mauritia flexuosa 
A trunked palm with leaves arranged in 
two ranks (Fig. 1) was found in a popu- 
lation of Mauritia Jexuosa near Iquitos 
on waterlogged soils. Since March 1984, 
the date of its discovery, this peculiar palm 
has not produced inflorescences. The dis- 
tichous crown arrangement may prevent 
the development of flowers by the 
compression of buds between successive 
sheaths in the same rank. 
A few palms are known to have a dis- 
tichous crown; Halmoorea trispatha 
(Dransfield and Uhl 1984), Oenocarpus 
distichus, Orania disticha, Wallichia 
disticha (Dransfield 1978), Catoblastus 
distichus and Aiphanes linearis (Bernal- 
Gonzales 1986). In these cases, distichous 
growth is characteristic of the species. 
“The significance of the distichous habit 
is not understood” concluded Dransfield 
(1978). Oenocarpus bacaba, with several 
leaf ranks and O. distichus, both arbores- 
cent, single-stemmed species occur in the 
same forest of the lower Rio Tocantins 
valley, Brazil (Kahn 1986). Adults of both 
species are found in the same stratum (1 5- 
25 m) under discontinuities of the forest 
canopy. The ecological conditions (soil and 
light) are also identical for the “abnormal” 
distichous Mauritia Jexuosa and for its 
normal” congeners. These facts suggest 
that the distichous crown arrangement in 
palms does not have ecological signifi- 
cance, but much of the biology of these 
palms remains unknown. 
L‘ 
LITERATURE CITED 
BERNAL GONZALES, R. 1986. Cutoblustus disti- 
chus, an interesting new palm from Colombia. 
Principes 30: . .  38-41. 
I .. .~ 
I 
A 4 $1 h n Z 
1. A Jfuuritiu Jexuosu palm with a distichous 
crown. 
DRANSFIELD, J.AND N. W. UHL. 1984. A m a g  
nificent new palm from Madagascar. Principes 
28(4): 151-154. 
, 1978. Growth forms of rain forest palms. 
In: P. B. Tomlinson and M. H. Zimmerman 
(eds.). Tropical trees as living sys- 
tems.Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 247-268. 
KAHN, F. 1986. Les palmiers des forêts tropicales 
humides du bas Tocantins (Amazonie brbsi- 
lienne). Rev. Ecol. (Terre et Vie), 41: 3-13. 
FRANCIS KAHN 
Convenio ORSTOMAIAP 
Apartado postal 185 
Iquitos-Peru 
Fonds Documentaire ORSTOL; 
Cote : R Ex : ?t I 


Palm brief : a distichous Mauritia flexuosa

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