Wettinia Poepp. ex Endl., Gen. Pl. : 243 (1837)

Primary tabs

https://media.e-taxonomy.eu/palmae/photos/palm_tc_214651_1.jpg

Distribution

Map uses TDWG level 3 distributions (https://github.com/tdwg/wgsrpd)
Bolivia present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Brazil North present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Colombia present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Ecuador present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Panamá present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Peru present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Venezuela present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Twenty-one species in Panama, Colombia, Peru, west Brazil and Ecuador. Greatest diversity in Colombia, west of the Andes in the Choco refugium, but also found east of the Andes. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Discussion

  • There is striking diversity in fruit form, particularly infruit surface; fruits can be warty, bristly or prickly. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Diagnosis

  • Usually moderate solitary or clustered pinnate-leaved tree palms of the Andes and foothills, the stems with stilt roots; leaflets are rhomboid praemorse, and sometimes longitudinally divided to give the whole leaf an ostrich-feather appearance; inflorescences are often multiple at each node, often unisexual, and the fruit has basal stigmatic remains and embryo. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Biology And Ecology

  • Confined to ever-wet tropical rain forest at low to medium elevations, often occurring in abundance. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Common Name

  • Stilt palms. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Etymology

  • Named for Frederick August of the House of Wettin (1750–1827), King of Saxony. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Uses

  • Leaves are used forthatching and the trunk split and used for flooring and walling. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Description

  • Solitary or clustered, slender, moderate or robust, unarmed, pleonanthic, monoecious tree palms. Stem erect, conspicuously ringed with leaf scars, bearing at the base a cone of stilt roots, covered in small sharp lateral roots. Leaves few in number, spirally arranged or rarely distichous, pinnate, neatly abscising or rarely marcescent; sheaths forming a well-defined crownshaft, covered with a variety of indumentum types; petiole rather short, adaxially channelled or convex, abaxially rounded; rachis adaxially angled, abaxially rounded, bearing hairs of various types; leaflets of two sorts, one undivided, elongate, asymmetrically and narrowly elliptic in outline, the proximal margin entire for ca. 2/3 its length, then praemorsely toothed, the distal margin entire for ca. 1/4 its length, then praemorsely toothed, conspicuously ribbed, the main ribs diverging from the base to the praemorse margin, the other leaflet type similar but with stouter ribs, and split between the ribs to the base into narrow segments displayed in several planes giving the whole leaf a plumose appearance, leaflets densely hairy abaxially, transverse veinlets not evident. Inflorescences unisexual, infrafoliar, 3–8(–15) at a node, maturing centrifugally, the central pistillate or staminate, the lateral staminate, or sometimes the inflorescence single by abortion of accessory buds at the node, either staminate or pistillate, spicate or branched to 1 order; peduncle prominent, shorter than or ± as long as rachis; prophyll short, tubular, 2-keeled, open at the apex; peduncular bracts 4–7, proximal 2 rather short, tubular, rounded, not flattened, open apically, distal bracts much longer, tubular, ± beaked, enclosing the inflorescence, splitting longitudinally, prophyll and all peduncular bracts very coriaceous, variously hairy or bristly, persisting long into fruiting stage; rachis where inflorescence branched, bearing small, collar-like or scarcely evident, spirally arranged bracts, the rachis and branches often coiled in bud; rachillae radiating or pendulous, bearing spirally arranged flowers. Flowers white or cream-coloured at anthesis, densely crowded. Staminate flowers crowded in ebracteolate pairs or solitary, open within the inflorescence bud; sepals 3(–4), briefly connate or distinct, ± narrow-triangular, small; petals much longer than the sepals, 3(–4), narrow triangular, straight or hooked at the apex, briefly valvate at the base; stamens 6–20, filaments short, slender, anthers basifixed, erect, elongate, latrorse; pistillode absent or minute and trifid. Pollen ellipsoidal, ± bi-symmetric; aperture a distal sulcus; ectexine intectate, upper surface of foot layer covered by fine, dense gemmae or clavae, loosely supporting short, wide-spaced, broad-based spines, aperture margin similar; longest axis 43–50 µm [5/21]. Pistillate flowers open in bud asymmetrical due to close packing, usually borne with 2 vestigial staminate flowers; sepals 3(–4), imbricate, or separated, or briefly connate basally, deltoid to elongate triangular; petals 3(–4), similar to but usually longer and broader than the sepals; staminodes 6, minute, tooth-like or absent; gynoecium of 1–3 minutely roughened, hairy or bristly fertile carpels and (0–)2 abortive carpels, with basal or apical, short to elongate, glabrous or hairy style, and 3 elongate, large stigmas, persistent or deciduous in fruit, ovule laterally attached at the base, anatropous. Fruit developing from 1 carpel, rarely from 2, densely crowded or rather loosely arranged, 1-seeded, prismatic, irregular, ellipsoid or globose, stigmatic remains basal; epicarp minutely roughened, softly hairy, or hairy and warty, or prickly with shining straight or twisted spines, mesocarp granular, with a layer of sclereids external to a parenchymatous layer with included tannin cells and elongate fibres, endocarp very thin. Seed ellipsoidal or subglobose, sometimes enclosed in a gelatinous mass when fresh, basally attached with rounded hilum, raphe elongate with reticulate branches, endosperm homogeneous or ruminate; embryo basal. Germination adjacent-ligular; eophyll praemorse, undivided or with a brief apical split. Cytology not studied. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Anatomy

  • Leaf (Tomlinson 1961, Roth 1990), root (Seubert 1998a, 1998b), gynoecium (Uhl and Moore 1971), stamen development (see Socratea), seed (Roth 1990, as Catoblastus praemorsus). (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Fossil record

  • No generic records found. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Relationships

  • The monophyly of Wettinia has not beentested. For relationships, see Iriartella. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Taxonomic accounts

  • Moore and Dransfield (1978), Moore(1982), Galeano-Garces and Bernal-Gonzales (1983) and Bernal(1995). (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Use Record

  • Wettinia Poepp. ex Endl.: (…). También los implementos de caza y pesca se fabrican con palmas: las cerbatanas o bodoqueras se elaboran con los tallos de las especies de Catoblastus y Wettinia; las catangas, o trampas para pescar, se construyen con matamba y chacarrá; con las semillas de la tagua se fabricaban antiguamente unos pitos eficientes para atraer a los animales de caza. (Bernal, R., and G. Galeano 1993: Las palmas del andén Pacífico.)
    Use CategoryUse Sub CategoryPlant PartHuman GroupEthnic GroupCountry
    Utensils and ToolsHunting and fishingStemIndigenousNot specifiedColombia
    Utensils and ToolsDomesticStemIndigenousNot specifiedColombia
  • Wettinia Poepp. ex Endl.: Construction. (…). Other trees used as natural bait include (…) a variety of palms (Geonoma and Wettinia). (…). Floors are made of split-trunk slats (or hand-sawn boards) taken from a variety of palms, depending upon elevation. In the higher elevation gualte (Geonoma) is preferred, while in the lower elevations barrigonas ( Catoblastus, Wettinia, Socratea, and Bactris) are common. (Orejuela, J.E. 1992: Traditional productive systems of the Awa (Cuaiquer) indians of soutwestern Colombia and neighboring Ecuador)
    Use CategoryUse Sub CategoryPlant PartHuman GroupEthnic GroupCountry
    ConstructionHousesStemIndigenousAwáColombia
    ConstructionHousesStemIndigenousAwáColombia
    Animal FoodWildlife attractantFruitsIndigenousAwáColombia
  • Wettinia Poepp. ex Endl.: Los cogollos tiernos se utilizan en la alimentación como palmito, el fuste se utiliza para postes y entablado de viviendas y las hojas para cubrir techos. (Cerón, C.E. 1995: Etnobiología de los Cofanes de Dureno, provincia de Sucumbíos, Ecuador)
    Use CategoryUse Sub CategoryPlant PartHuman GroupEthnic GroupCountry
    Human FoodFoodPalm heartIndigenousQuichuaEcuador
    ConstructionThatchEntire leafIndigenousQuichuaEcuador
    ConstructionHousesStemIndigenousQuichuaEcuador
  • Wettinia Poepp. ex Endl.: The basic construction unit of a roof was the so-called " crisnejas", which were made from an approx. 3.2 m long stick, mostly derived from the split trunk of species of Wettinia. (Stagegaard, J., M. Sørensen, and L.P. Kvist 2002: Estimations of the importance of plant resources extracted by inhabitants of the Peruvian Amazon flood plains)
    Use CategoryUse Sub CategoryPlant PartHuman GroupEthnic GroupCountry
    ConstructionThatchStemMestizoN/APeru
  • Wettinia Poepp. ex Endl.: The wood is used for spears and blowguns when no chonta (Bactris gasipaes) is available. The leaves provide emergency thatch. (Davis, E.W., and J.A. Yost 1983: The ethnobotany of the Waorani of eastern Ecuador)
    Use CategoryUse Sub CategoryPlant PartHuman GroupEthnic GroupCountry
    Utensils and ToolsDomesticStemIndigenousHuaoraniEcuador
    ConstructionThatchEntire leafIndigenousHuaoraniEcuador
  • Catoblastus H.Wendl.: Construction.(…). Floors are made of split-trunk slats (or hand-sawn boards) taken from a variety of palms, depending upon elevation. In the higher elevation gualte (Geonoma) is preferred, while in the lower elevations barrigonas ( Catoblastus, Wettinia, Socratea, and Bactris) are common. (Orejuela, J.E. 1992: Traditional productive systems of the Awa (Cuaiquer) indians of soutwestern Colombia and neighboring Ecuador (as Catoblastus H.Wendl.))
  • Catostigma O.F.Cook & Doyle: El principal uso de la palma "pambil" es su tallo estipe, como madera de construcción rústica de las casas de la selva tropical, sea en forma de puntales, de tablas de piso, paredes y tumbados. (…). Para utilizar el estipe del pambil en estacas o polines de cercas alambradas, se aprovecha los estipes o troncos maduros, (…). (…). El cogollo o meristemo apical del pambil, como el de las otras palmeras, también es comestible como hortaliza, en ensalada y cocido. (Acosta-Solis, M. 1948: Tagua or vegetable ivory - a forest product of Ecuador (as Catostigma O.F.Cook & Doyle))
  • Catoblastus H.Wendl.: Se utiliza para postes o ripas. (Guallart, J.M. 1968: Nomenclatura Jibaro-Aguaruna de Palmeras en el Distrito de Cenepa. (as Catoblastus H.Wendl.))
  • Catoblastus H.Wendl.: También los implementos de caza y pesca se fabrican con palmas: las cerbatanas o bodoqueras se elaboran con los tallos de las especies de Catoblastus y Wettinia; las catangas, o trampas para pescar, se construyen con matamba y chacarrá; con las semillas de la tagua se fabricaban antiguamente unos pitos eficientes para atraer a los animales de caza. (Bernal, R., and G. Galeano 1993: Las palmas del andén Pacífico. (as Catoblastus H.Wendl.))

Bibliography

    A. Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms
    B. World Checklist of Arecaceae