Socratea exorrhiza

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File:Socratea exorrhiza.jpg

Figure 1. A young S. exorrhiza in habitat, the Amazon.

Common Names:

Stilt palm

Habitat:

Amazonian rainforest

Description:

Probably the most famous of the stilt rooted palms, with the roots coming from up to 2m (6 feet) from the ground. Even young plants have no trunk going into the soil, only roots. The palms themselves can grow to 20m. It has a small head of plumose, deep green leaves, up to 2m long, with a greenish blue crown shaft.

General:

A tropical palm that grow in quantities of billions in rainforest of the "hole" of Amazonia, sometimes at the base of the Andes range, growing with others species like its close relative Iriartea deltoidea.

Culture:

Warm, sheltered and very, very humid. Seeds need to be fresh to germinate.

Figure 2. Showing the stunning stilt roots.

Figure 3. A panoramic view of S. exorrhiza.

Contributed by:

Gaston Torres Vera,
Cordoba, Argentina (Images copyright Argentina Palms)

External Links:

Kew, PalmWeb, JSTOR, Trebrown

Google, GoogleImages, Flickr, PalmTalk