Chamaedorea brachypoda

Description

Moderately fast growing, dioecious, forest understorey palm. Rare in cultivation, critically endangered in the wild. It has smooth, green stems, 0.9 m. (3 ft.) tall, 0.7 cm. (0.3 inch) diameter with no obvious leaf scars, and small partially segmented, pinnate (feather) leaves, 0.5 m. (1.5 ft.) long, 0.25 m. (0.8 ft.) wide, dark green above and, light green beneath. Leaves have a deeply notched apex. A very attractive little palm, which ought to be much more widely grown. Requires a sheltered, shady and moist position. This species makes a wonderful ground cover as each plant spreads far by creeping root-stocks. Clustering, cespitose (growing in tufts, or clumps) palm, with rhizomes. 1 - 2 x 3 - 4 m tall. Stems: 5 - 7 mm thick, light green, smooth, slender, ringed, intermodes 5 - 8 cm long. Leaves: 5 - 8 in the crown, spreading, bifid; sheath 15 cm long, tubular, 8 mm wide, drying brown; petiole 5 - 10 cm long, slightly groozed and green above, rounded and pale below; rachis 10 - 12 cm long, 10-12 cm long, angled or ridged above, rounded and pale below; blade to 30 x 22 cm, 11-13 primary nerves on each side of rachis, prominent and keeled above. Inflorescences: infrafoliar, breaking through persistent leaf sheaths at nodes just below living leaves; peduncles 3-10 cm long, 3-4 mm wide at base and apex, ± stiff and ascending, green in flower, orange in fruit; bracts 6. Fruits: 5-10 mm long, ellipsoid, black. Editing by edric.