Collecting palm seeds in the rainforest

[ariscott]

I love those Geonoma & Asterogyne. If only I have more luck with Geonoma seedlings .

Regards, Ari

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Man that bouganvillea has so got to go.

Thanks. See any serpents ?

That clump is known as the largest C. renda in this area. It's Alexander's prized palm. I'm surprised he hasn't asked his men to trim that Boug yet, but he will.

Thankfully we didn't see any serpents Wal, but Jorge had some stories about snakes that he has previously run into.

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Jeff , the Dracontium could only be D.pittieri , no other sp. has an infloresence that high .

Very impressive pictures of some amazing palms .

Michael, thanks for the id! Jorge really likes this plant and kept showing them to me as we walked by them. That was the only large flower I saw, all the rest were just starting to flower.

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

I love those Geonoma & Asterogyne. If only I have more luck with Geonoma seedlings .

Regards, Ari

Ari, I mostly find Geonoma growing in full shade. I've seen a few at the edge of the forest where they get a lot of sun and they are always yellow and bleached looking. They seem to require a lot of water and high humidity to look good also. They should grow well for you if you keep them shaded.

[realarch]

Jeff, you dirty dog. Collecting seed in habitat has to be an exciting experience, lucky you have the opportunity. I had a practice session when I was in the Amazon, but couldn't bring any of the seed I collected back to the US. It was fun though with the Socratea, Iriartea, Phytelephas, and Geonoma. Fabulous man.

Tim

[ariscott]

I love those Geonoma & Asterogyne. If only I have more luck with Geonoma seedlings .

Regards, Ari

Ari, I mostly find Geonoma growing in full shade. I've seen a few at the edge of the forest where they get a lot of sun and they are always yellow and bleached looking. They seem to require a lot of water and high humidity to look good also. They should grow well for you if you keep them shaded.

Once they get to a decent size, I have no problems with them. The seedlings just keep dying on me...

Regards, Ari

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Jeff, you dirty dog. Collecting seed in habitat has to be an exciting experience, lucky you have the opportunity. I had a practice session when I was in the Amazon, but couldn't bring any of the seed I collected back to the US. It was fun though with the Socratea, Iriartea, Phytelephas, and Geonoma. Fabulous man.

Tim

Tim, it was a LOT of fun. There's nothing like seeing palms growing naturally in their habitat.

Finding them loaded with seed... priceless!

[Jose Maria]

Hi Jeff,

Great pictures!

Doing this, prospecting the forest ,is what I like most.

Same thing happens to me when in the forest....more than 50% of the palms I see, I can´t ID....Even so I take some seedlings with me...maybe years later we ´ll find their name.

There was a Desmoncus at Dewayne´s, it´s climbing and has spines.

Pura Vida.

[mike in kurtistown]

Ari and others,

I obtained some Amazonian Geonoma species seeds in 2006. Some germinated very sporadically, but now I am down to three left. They start brown tipping, then the older leaves turn brown, then death occurs after two or three months. Fungal or bacterial agents usually kill quickly. The symptoms, therefore, would seem to be consistent with a root problem. They were potted in either local clayey, volcanic soil or loose potting soil, both quite acidic. The plants were under 74 percent shadecloth, had plenty of water, temperatures ranging from high 50's (winter nights) to mid 80's (summer afternoons). The Amazon area generally ranges from 80 to 95 degrees F. year round.

I have a large number of Geonoma interrupta and a G. schottiana that are growing great. From Costa Rica.

Anyone have any ideas about Amazonian Geonomas??

[realarch]

Wish I did Mike, they were so beautiful in habitat. I do have some nice photos though, but that's about it. Maybe I'll see you at the next HIPS meeting.

Tim

[Jose Maria]

Hi Mike in Kurtistown,

Here where I live in Costa Rica, the Geonoma interrupta grows wild in the forests( in shade) behind my house. The soil is a mix of limestone that was covered by volcanic ash some thousands of years ago; 300 to 600 meter above sea level and at 30 km from the Pacific; all together this makes for conditions comparable to Hawaii.

Maybe that´s the reason they grow great because their origin is like Hawaii.

But the Amazon(generally ) has much older soils, red lateritic very acid soils.(I saw some soil analysis from there)

I think 74% maybe too much shade....

That´s about all my ideas on Amazon Geonomas...

Here a Geonoma interrupta starting to flower

[tjwalters]

Awesome thread, Jeff. Thanks for posting. Love seeing the different species in habitat.

[Jeff in Costa Rica]

Mike, I wish I could help you but I don't know anything about the Amazonian Geonoma species. I'm still trying to collect all the Costa Rican species.

Jose Maria, that's a beautiful photo of Geonoma interrupta! It is fast becoming one of my favorite palms. One of these days we'll do our forest hike. I can't wait to see some of the forests down your way.

I missed the Desmoncus at Dewayne's house, I wish I would have photographed it.

Thanks Tom, glad you like the photos.

[fiji jim]

Great stuff Jeff,

Nothing like seeing palms at home.

I also have trouble with Geonoma, but much better success when they are located where they never get any direct sunlight.

I had best luck with congesta, some interrupta made it and a few macrostachys and schottiana.

Thanks again for the lovely pics.

Jim

[amazondk]

Jeff,

This thread makes want to go out and take a hike around the forest. It has been a while since I have done that.

Jose Maria,

I guess you are mostly right about the soils around here. Although there is a lot of sandy soils in many areas, some less sandy and some more. The real sandy areas do not support highland forest and have an ecosystem called Campina which is made up of stunted trees where I do not belive Genomas are found.

Mike, I do not know if this will help but the local Genomas here I believe are found mostly in primary forests which tend to be more open that secondary forests with thick crowed vegetation. Therefore there is a little more light in the understory from what I have observed. I would go with 50 percent shade. Our temperatures average from 80 to 95 F in the daytime and nights are always from 70 to 74 F year around. And, in the forest I would say that the nights and days are a little cooler.

The ubim, the local name for Genomas make great palm thatching and I am going to try and get a bunch of thatch from my father in laws place up the river to make a palapa at our place. There are a lot of these palms there.

dk

[tjwalters]

A assume this is Chamaedorea. I really like the wide leaflets on this palm. They had very skinny trunks and some specimens were quite tall. I collected a lot of seeds from these palms also.

Any chance the palm in post #12 is Chamaedorea dammeriana?