Aphandra
| Aphandra | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Arecales |
| Family: | Arecaceae |
| Subfamily: | Ceroxyloideae |
| Tribe: | Phytelepheae |
| Genus: | Aphandra Barfod |
| Species: | A. natalia
|
| Binomial name | |
| Aphandra natalia | |
Aphandra is a
brooms and other products.[1] This plant is commercially exploited for its edible fruits, and for its leaf sheath and petiole fibers. This fiber is almost equal to the fiber extracted from Attalea funifera and Leopoldinia piassaba, which is called piassava
.
The genus name is a combination of Natalie Uhl, modern palm taxonomist.
Description
Aphandra natalia grows from single trunks, reaching over 12 m in height, being gray to tan in color. These trees usually remain covered in the bases of old leaves giving them a seeming trunk diameter of nearly 1 meter, however the actual trunk size when cleaned of the leaf bases is nearer to 30 cm. The vine-like, pendent fibers of the leaf bases resemble those of pinnately cleft and dark green in color.[2]
They are sexually
flowers with females producing shorter tufts of yellow flowers surrounded by green to brown bracts. A mature infructescence resembles "a medieval club with spikes if the large amount of hairy black fiber was removed".[1]
Distribution and habitat
A. natalia grows in eastern Ecuador through northern Peru to western Brazil reaching altitudes of 800 m. They are an under-story palm in the Amazon rainforest stretching to the foothills of the Andes.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6(Page 250)
- ISBN 978-0-935868-30-2
- ISBN 0-691-08537-4.
External links
- "genus Aphandra". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) online database.
- "Aphandra natalia". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
- West Amazonian Piassaba Fiber Aphandra natalia: documenting traditional knowledge about a little-known source of plant fiber and its sustainable management
- Palm base: Aphandra natalia