Chamaedorea amabilis

Panama city, Panama. Photo by Zulli Franceschi, edric.

Chamaedorea
(kahm-eh-doh-REH-ah)
amabilis (ah-mah-BILL-iss)

Panama city, Panama. Photo by Zulli Franceschi, edric.

Scientific Classification

Genus:	Chamaedorea (kahm-eh-doh-REH-ah)
Species:	amabilis (ah-mah-BILL-iss)

Synonyms

Chamaedorea coclensis, Nunnezharia amabilis

Native Continent

America

Morphology

Habit:	Solitary
Leaf type:	Pinnate

Culture

Survivability index

Common names

None.

Habitat and Distribution

COSTA RICA. Alajuela. Cartago. Heredia. San Jose. PANAMA. Cocle. Colon. COLOMBIA. Choco. Dense, wet forest; alt. 500-1,000 m elevation.

Grows in wet forest on the slope of Cordilleras de Tilaran, Central and Talamanca in Costa Rica , and Serrania de Tabasara in Panama.

Description

This is a very slow-growing, thin-stemmed (1/4"/6 cm.), bifid-leaved palm. It can grow up to 8'/2.5 m. tall in a warm Mediterranean climate. The bifid leaves are 6"-10"/15-25 cm. long, have parallel sides and are markedly ridged and stiff. Most plants tend to only hold 3-5 leaves at a time. Solitary stem. 1.5 2 m. tall and 1 1.5 cm. in diameter 3 to 7 leaves in the crown. Petioles, (beyond sheath). 5-17 cm. , with tubular sheath. Simple and bifid leaf-blade, elliptical to oblong, insised distally to 1/4 the total length with margins prominently serrate. Ascending, infrafoliar inflorescence. Male greenish and aromatic and green spicate the female. The fruits are smooth, subglobose to oblong, black when ripe and 0.7 cm. in diameter.

General: Chamaedorea amabilis is a very beautiful palm, easily recognized by its simple and oblong blades, prominent serrate leaf borders, shallowly bifid and with numerous lateral veins. This species is very uncommon and is found only in very wet forests on the slopes of altitude.

Habit: solitary, slender, erect but sometimes decumbent, 1-2 m tall. Stem: 7-10 mm in diam., conspicuously ringed, internodes 5 cm long, conspicuous adventitious prop roots at base to 10 cm high. Leaves: 4-5 per crown, spreading, bifid, rich green; sheath 12 cm long, tubular, green, faintly longitudinally striate-nerved; petiole 3-12 cm long, flat and bright green above with a raised, light green, triangular knoblike appendage at base, rounded and with a ± indistinct pale band below; rachis 15-20 cm long, angled and green above, rounded and pale-banded below; blade 30-50 x 15-30 cm, broadly obovate, 15-25 cm wide at apex, incised apically to 1/5-1/4 its length, thin-papery, glabrous, glossy below, cuneate at base, outer margins on upper half conspicuously serrate- dentate, 25 prominent nerves on each side of rachis. Inflorescences: infrafoliar, ascending, slender; peduncles 10-15 cm long, 4 mm wide at base, 5 mm wide at apex, green in flower where exposed, orange in fruit; bracts 4, prophyll I cm long, 2nd bract 3 cm, 3rd 7 cm, distal one 10 cm and exceeding peduncle, papery-membranous, greenish but rapidly turning brownish or rotting to nearly transparent by anthesis, longitudinally striate-nerved, acuminate, bifid. Staminate with very short rachis to I cm long, green in flower; rachillae 3-7, 15-25 cm long, 3-4 mm in diam., erect-spreading, green, minutely white-spotted. Pistillate spicate or sometimes furcate; flower-bearing portion or rachillae 15-20 cm long, 5 mm in diam., erect, green and minutely white-spotted in flower, swollen and reddish orange in fruit. Flowers: Staminate in rather dense spirals, 2.5-3 x 2.5-3 mm, subglobose, slightly angled, obtuse or ± flattened, greenish at anthesis ageing to brown, aromatic, slightly sunken in rounded depressions 2 mm long; calyx 0.5-0.75 x 2-2.5 mm high, shallowly knotched, greenish ageing to brown, sepals connate basally, broadly rounded apically, nerveless; petals 2.5 x 3 mm, connate apically and there adnate to pistillode and corolla opening by very small, basal, lateral apertures, triangular, acute; stamens 1.5 mm high, connate basally, anthers 0.75 mm long; pistillode 22.5 mm high, obovoid, swollen apically, there I mm wide, green. Pistillate in rather dense spirals, 2-5 mm distant, 2 x 3 mm, depressed-globose, green, swelling with age whether pollinated or not to 4 mm wide and becoming greenish yellow, slightly sunken in elliptic depressions; calyx 0.5 x 3-4 mm, shallowly lobed, green, sepals briefly connate basally, very broadly rounded apically, nerveless; corolla with a terminal triangular opening, 1.5 mm across, petals 2 x 3-3.5 mm, imbricate in basal 3/4, very broadly truncate to acute or undulate apically, ± thickened, limegreen, white-margined, cup-shaped; pistil 1.5 x 2 mm, depressed- globose, dark green, stigma lobes sessile, short, black. Fruits: 12 x 9 mm, globose to oblong, black, smooth, glossy. Editing by edric. (Hodel, D.R. 1992)/Palmweb.

Wendland discovered C. amabilis along the Rio Sarapiqui near the village of San Miguel in Costa Rica about the middle of the 19th century. He returned to Germany with living material and grew it in his greenhouses at Herrenhausen for many years. He worked up a description and name for it which were published a year after his death by his friend Udo Dammer (1904b). Dammer noted that none of Wendland's plants was alive by the early 1900s. Chamaedorea amabilis is distributed in wet forests at middle elevations mainly on the Atlantic slope in Costa Rica and Panama. It also occurs sparingly in northwest Colombia. In Panama it occurs up to and just over the Continental Divide at appropriate elevations, such as at El Cope and El Valle. One of the most striking members of the genus, C. amabilis is highly sought after by collectors who do not hesitate to strip great numbers of them from the forest which has led to their decline in the wild (Hodel 1988a). C. amabilis is cultivated in California, Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Australia, although it is not common in any of these places. Although Dammer (1904b) reported that all of Wendland's plants had died, the species may still survive in Europe. Chamaedorea amabilis is surprisingly hardy considering its origin and has withstood O°C (32°F) without sustaining damage in the Los Angeles area. (Hodel, D.R. 1992)/Palmweb.

Culture

This is one of the less cold tolerant palms that succeed in a Mediterranean climate with about a 10a-10b USDA climate (temps rarely below freezing) but not super hot (will not tolerate desert climates). It is very needy of moisture and humidity, requiring constantly moist, well-drained soil, and frequent misting in a dry, Mediterranean climate. Best, if affordable, to have reverse osmosis water to keep from brown-tipping the leaves badly. Brown tipping leaves also result from low humidity, hot, dry winds, and lack of watering. Snails like this palm and can shred it overnight. It likes no direct sunlight.

Comments and Curiosities

Etymology: From the Latin, amabilis meaning lovely, attractive.

Chamaedorea are dioecious, male, and female flowers, on separate plants.

External Links

References

Phonetic spelling of Latin names by edric.

Special thanks to Geoff Stein, (Palmbob) for his hundreds of photos, edric.

Special thanks to Palmweb.org, Dr. John Dransfield, Dr. Bill Baker & team, for their volumes of information and photos, edric.

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).

Hodel, D.R.1992. Chamaedorea Palms, The Species and Their Cultivation. The International Palm Society.