Syagrus × lacerdamourae Soares & Guimarães (2013b: 93)

Noblick, Larry R., 2017, A revision of the genus Syagrus (Arecaceae), Phytotaxa 294 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

71. Syagrus × lacerdamourae Soares & Guimarães (2013b: 93) . ( S. coronata × S. botryophora ). Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Itapetinga, Fazenda Atalaia, –15.17, –40.085, 22 October 2013, K. Soares, J. Santos, L. Assis, C. Guimarães 54 (holotype HDCF)

Figure 90 map.

Solitary palm, moderate to large in size, 5–16 m tall. Stem columnar, 4–14 m × 18–26 cm, ringed with a dilated base. Leaves 10–15, arched, spirally arranged, ca. 3 m long; sheathing leaf base ca. 120 × 20 cm with hair-like fibers; pseudopetiole not measured; petiole 13–15 × 2.5 cm, with whitish to grayish, scurfy, mealy, more or less deciduous tomentum abaxially; rachis 280–300 cm long; leaflets rigid, dark green, slightly lighter on the abaxial surface, 190–200 along one side, irregularly arranged in clusters, inserted at various angles, giving the leaf a plumose appearance, basal leaflets 77–86 × 1.4–2.0 cm, middle leaflets 63–84 × 2.5–3.0 cm, apical leaflets 20–25 × 1.0– 1.3 cm with an asymmetric tip. Inflorescence 45–70 cm long, often branched to two orders (up to 4 branches, which are branched to two orders), prophyll 37–44 × 6–7 cm; peduncular bract 85–97 cm long, expanded portion 48–56 × 14–20 cm, including a 2–6 cm beak, perimeter not measured, woody, sulcate, but not as deeply sulcate as S. botryophora ; peduncle ca. 38–41 × 2.5–3 cm, elliptical in cross-section, densely covered with tomentum; inflorescence axis ca. 46–53 cm long; rachis 38–43 cm long; rachillae 59–71, 8–10 cm long at the apex, 13–16 cm long at the middle, 20–25 cm long at the base; staminate flowers 14–17 mm long, cream to yellow, sepals 1 × 1.5 mm, petals 12–13 × 5 mm, long-ovate, stamens ca. 5 mm long, anthers 5 mm long, dorsifixed below the middle, filaments not measured, pistillode ca. 1 mm long; basal pistillate flowers ovoid, 17–18 × 10–11 mm, yellow, sepals 13–14 × 8–10 mm, petals 12–14 × 8–9 mm, glabrous, pistil ovoid, 12 × 5 mm, stigmas not measured, glabrous, staminodal ring not measured. Fruit ovoid, 4.5–4.7 × 2.7–2.8 cm, 2–5 per rachillae, epicarp less than 0.5 mm thick, white or yellowish green when mature, with brownish-yellow tomentum at the apex (like a halo), mesocarp thickness not measured, oil-rich, succulent and fibrous; endocarp ovoid, 4.2–5.0 × 2.4–2.6 cm; seed ellipsoid, endosperm homogeneous.

Common name:— None recorded.

Etymology:— The specific epithet, lacerdamourae , honors the forestry engineer José Inácio Lacerda Moura, expert on pests and diseases of palms.

Distribution and habitat:— To date, only eight hybrids have been found growing together in the type locality.

Phenology:— Unknown.

Uses:— None recorded.

Notes:— This fertile hybrid can occur where populations of S. coronata and S. botryophora overlap in Bahia. This palm is similar to S. botryophora , in having a smooth, slightly ringed, tall slender stem with a dilated base and with a short, wide peduncular bract. It differs from S. botryophora by having irregularly distributed leaflets in clusters arranged in divergent planes (vs. regularly spaced leaflets in a single plane). It also differs in having a peduncular bract that is not deeply grooved, but similar to its other parent S. coronata . The white to yellowish green epicarp of the fruit is covered with indumentum instead of orange and glabrous as in S. botryophora when ripe. This hybrid always displays a few branched rachillae (2–4), usually inserted in the middle part of the rachis; a character that is usually absent in the genus Syagrus .

Representative specimens:— Known only from type specimen.