Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart.   (Arecaceae)

---

Espinoza, R., Guadamuz, A., Perez, D., Chavarría, F. and Masís, A. 1998. Acrocomia aculeata (Arecaceae) Species Page , June 30, 1998 . Species Home Pages, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. http://www.acguanacaste.ac.cr

Palm 4-10 m tall, with a thick trunk and many thorns.

Flower:

The inflorescence is a axillary raceme of yellow, small, perfect (both sexes on the same flower), flowers and with a sweet aroma.

Inflorescence

Fruit:

The fruit is round, approximately 3.5 cm in diameter. Green what immature and brown when mature. Glabrous.

Whole fruit

Cross-section of the seed

Leaves:

Compound pinnate foliar lamina 2-3.5 m long (Grayum, 1997).

Upper surface of the leaf	Under surface of the leaf	Hoja entera
Under surface of the leaf showing the thorns on the rachis

Bark and wood:

Stems with cilindrical thorns, 5-10 cm long.

Stem or trunk with thorns

Whole plant architecture:

Palm 4-10 m tall, with thick trunk and many thorns.

General aspect of the plant

Similar species:

Verification:

Identification, R. Espinoza.

II.Geographic distribution:

International:

México to Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay ( Henderson et.al. 1998).

In Costa Rica:

Lowland zones of the Atlantic and Pacific watersheds.

In the Area de Conservación Guanacaste:

Lowland zones of both the Atlantic and Pacific watersheds. In old pastures and second growth regions in various states of regeneration.

Map of macro-habitats of the ACG

III. Natural History:

Dispersada por ganado. Se piensa que es un fruto de la megafauna del pleistoceno y probablemente desaparesca del bosque secundario ya que no hay ningún animal en el bosque que la disperse.

IV. How to find:

Es muy común en potreros donde hay ganado y en potreros y tacotales viejos dentro del ACG.

Acknowledgments.

This project was carried out by the Area de Conservación Guanacaste/CR, with help from INBio/CR, ICBG from the Foggarty center, NIH/USA and NSF/USA.

Literature cited: