15. Geonoma deneversii Henderson, sp. nov. (Appendix IV, Plates 21–24)

A speciebus affinibus staminibus plus quam sex differt.

Type: PANAMA. Bocas del Toro: E of Gualaca-Chiriquí Grande road, 10 mi. N of continental divide, 1 mi. along side road E, 8°55’N 82°05’W, 100–500 m, 19 January 1989, G. de Nevers, F. Almeda & G. McPherson 8823 (holotype NY!, isotypes BH!, K!, MO!).

Plant height no data; stems 1.3 m tall, solitary; internodes no data. Leaves 20 per stem, irregularly pinnate, not plicate, bases of blades running diagonally into the rachis; sheaths no data; petioles drying green or yellowish; rachis 104.5 cm long, 5.4 mm in diameter; veins raised and rectangular in cross-section adaxially; pinnae 3 per side of rachis; basal pinna 87.0 cm long, 18.7 cm wide, forming an angle of 31° with the rachis; apical pinna 25.5 cm long, 27.5 cm wide, forming an angle of 27° with the rachis. Inflorescences unbranched; prophylls and peduncular bracts ribbed with elongate, unbranched fibers, both bracts tubular, narrow, elongate, closely sheathing the peduncle, more or less persistent; prophylls 35.5 cm long, not short and asymmetrically apiculate, the surfaces not ridged, without unequally wide ridges; peduncular bracts 31.0 cm long, well-developed, inserted 2.7 cm above the prophyll; peduncles 92.5 cm long, 5.2 mm in diameter; rachillae 1, 31.0 cm long, 9.9 mm wide, the surfaces without spiky, fibrous projections or ridges, drying brown or yellow-brown, without short, transverse ridges, not filiform and not narrowed between the flower pits; flower pits spirally arranged, glabrous internally; proximal lips with a central notch before anthesis, often the two sides of the notch overlapping, not recurved after anthesis, not hood-shaped; proximal and distal lips drying the same color as the rachillae, not joined to form a raised cupule, the proximal lip margins overlapping the distal lip margins; distal lips well-developed; staminate and pistillate petals not emergent, not valvate throughout; staminate flowers deciduous after anthesis; stamens more than 6; thecae diverging at anthesis, inserted directly onto the apiculate filament apices; anthers not short and curled at anthesis, usually elongate, spiraled and twisted or sometimes remaining straight; non-fertilized pistillate flowers deciduous after anthesis; staminodial tubes lobed at the apex, the lobes spreading at anthesis, acuminate; staminodial tubes projection no data; fruits no data.

Distribution and habitat:— At 8°55’N and 82°05’W on the Caribbean slope in Panama (Bocas del Toro) at 250 m elevation in lowland rainforest (Fig. 15).

Taxonomic notes:— Geonoma deneversii differs from similar species ( G. camana, G. chlamydostachys, G. chococola) in its staminate flowers with more than six stamens. It is also the only species of this group to occur in Central America.

Subspecific variation:— No trait varies within this species, and only one specimen is known.