I went for a walk on the property today looking for palm seeds and I found these palms loaded with seed. I could only find about a dozen that had fallen to the ground and were not eaten but I plan on going back again to see if I can get more. This is a very spiney but beautiful palm with plumose leaflets and colorful bunches of fruit hanging down. I really like this palm! Can anyone confirm if this is Astrocaryum standleyanum?

Trunk detail

Frond detail

Seeds

Last pic

Jeff,

A very nice looking palm with fruit, just don't try climbing it. The description in Palms of the Americas describes the palm you pictured as Astrocaryum standleyanum. In a crazy way I like spiny palms. Is this the palm that you showed Al and me when we were there?

Jerry

Thanks Jerry! This is the same kind of palm that I showed you, Cindy and Al, but I found these in a different part of the property near the waterfall. There were 5 or 6 palms in this location and almost all of them had big bunches of orange fruit hanging down. I'm also starting to grow fond of spiney palms! The spines make nice patterns on the trunks and petioles and give it an interesting look. Want some seeds?

Jeff,

Nice pictures of the Astrocaryum. Send the monkey's up!

Jeff

Jeff, I don't think the monkeys would be brave enough to climb these palms! But something sure likes the fruit. Most of the fallen seeds were all chewed up and there were little pieces of orange pulp scattered all over.

This really is a beautiful palm. The undersides of the leaves are silver-ish which contrasts with the orange fruit and the trunk and petioles appear dark black because of the spines. It really makes a statement in the forest!

I've been trying to research more about this palm but there doesn't seem to be much out there on the internet. Even PACSOA (my online palm bible) has this palm listed but then when you click on it, it says "no information available". I was able to find a few references for it and found out is also known as the "black palm" and its range is from Costa Rica to Ecuador.

I went looking for more seeds today and found 3 more locations where this palm is growing. In all cases, the palms are growing on stream banks. Even the first ones I photographed were growing very near a stream. I couldn't find any seeds laying on the ground, it seems they are immediately eaten by something. But I was able to find a couple dozen in the stream. I had on my crocs, so I waded in and picked them all out. Here are some more photos I took today of Areca standleyanum growing in the rainforest.

Newly discarded spathe. This is the view of the inside which was bright white

I flipped it over and the other side had spines on it

The base of one of the trunks. There are not as many spines near the base and they seem to shed near the bottom

Seeds in the stream

A very tall one

more seeds

Closeup

fronds

Last two pics

Crown

There's probably been enough response on this, but I was in the Hilo Arboretum a couple of days ago, and took a picture of a pair that are growing there (and labled as such on the chart for that area). They appear to be quite old.

And here is a younger one at the Ho'omaluhia Gardens on O'ahu.

Mike, thanks for the pics! Those two tall ones do look quite old.

I saw a couple pics on the internet where they were planted in open areas in full sun and they didn't appear to be growing very well. I guess these palms need a lot of shade and water to really look their best.

Hi Jeff,

Nice palms! I've never seen this species before in CR, only the Astrocaryum alatum which I have also found near stream banks. According to INBio (Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad) they only grow in the southern Caribbean and Pacific. Here is the INBio's page with some good information.

Regards,

Luis Diego.

Luis Diego, thanks for the link! That's the most information I have seen on this palm. It includes a pic of one growing very well in what appears to be full sun, so maybe they don't need as much shade as I thought.