Phytelephas seemannii

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title: "Phytelephas seemannii" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["phytelephas", "flora-of-colombia", "flora-of-panama", "conservation-dependent-plants", "ivory", "sculpture-materials", "handicrafts", "plants-described-in-1912", "non-timber-forest-products", "taxonomy-articles-created-by-polbot"] description: "Species of palm" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytelephas_seemannii" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of palm ::

|image = Phytelephas seemannii-jardin botanique-IMG 2708-black.jpg |image_alt = |image_caption = Specimen of Phytelephas seemannii found in the riparian forest of Rio Guanxhez, Colón Province, Panama |status = LR/cd |status_system = IUCN2.3 |status_ref = |genus = Phytelephas |species = seemannii |authority = O.F.Cook 1912 |subdivision_ranks = Subspecies |subdivision_ref = |subdivision =

• Phytelephas seemannii subsp. brevipes
• Phytelephas seemannii subsp. seemannii |synonyms_ref = |synonyms = * Phytelephas ruizii Gaudichaud (nomen nudum)

Phytelephas seemannii, commonly called Panama ivory palm, is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is one of the plants used for vegetable ivory.

Names

The species epithet seemannii honors botanist Berthold Carl Seemann who collected some of the first specimens, including the lectotype. In Spanish it is called cabeza de negra (es), palma de marfil (es), and tagua. In Colombian Spanish it is additionally known as allagua. In Guna it is sam, or sagu. In both the Quechua and Choco languages it is called anta.

Habitat

Phytelephas seemannii is native to Colombia and Panama, with much of it growing in shaded areas by rivers in lowland rainforest in Colombia's Pacific/Chocó natural region. It is usually found at elevations from 0-1000 m in semi-deciduous forests.

Subspecies

Phytelephas seemannii has two subspecies, P. s. ssp. brevipes and P. s. ssp. seemannii. P. s. ssp. brevipes is endemic to the upper Mamoní Valley in Panama, at or below 500 m in elevation, and may be a hybrid of P. seemannii and P. macrocarpa.

Description

Phytelephas seemannii most closely resembles Phytelephas macrocarpa. However, the former has leaves that have fewer pinnae which are larger. Its trunk is also not upright but "creeping" and decumbent. The tree is generally less than 1 m tall, with inflorescences below the 0.5 m mark. Its spathes are double instead of in threes or fours. On the male flowers are only 36 stamens and not the hundreds of other species. The heads contain fewer fruits than other species, but inside are more nuts that are larger. Typically each fruit has 5 seeds protected by a 1 cm fibrous coat, and each inflorescence has up to 8 fruits. Each tree can have dozens of inflorescences at a time.

In immature seeds, the endosperm is a liquid, like in a coconut, and then later it hardens as the fruit wall softens and deteriorates.

Ecology

Panama ivory palm trees flower after the end of the dry season, between February and May. The flowers are pollinated by insects, specifically by two types of rove beetles, pollen-eating Amazoncharis spp. and their predators in the genus Xanthopygus. The Amazoncharis beetles hollow out egg chambers within the male inflorescence, similar to how beetles in the related subtribe Gyrophaenina do inside of mushrooms. Squirrels and agoutis will eat the fleshy inner mesocarp surrounding the endocarp of the fruit, but do not eat the extremely hard endosperm. The rock-hard endosperm also makes the seed immune from most insect pests. Seed dispersers include the Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata), and lowland paca (Agouti paca).

Uses

The seeds are traded at a regional international level as vegetable ivory, which is also called tagua. This commercial use is a threat to the species, but progress is being made on using more sustainable practices and conservation. As the tree typically grows only 1 m tall, it fortunately was not chopped down to harvest the seeds as was done with Phytelephas aequatorialis at the peak of tagua harvesting.

The jelly-like liquid in the immature seeds, which later turns into the vegetable ivory, is edible. Occasionally in the marketplaces of Guna Yala the thin crust surrounding the ivory is sold as food.

In Colombia the fronds are sometimes used for thatch.

References

References

1. Bernal, R.. (1998). "''Phytelephas seemannii''".
2. (31 May 1912). "Seeds and Plants Imported During the Period from April 1 to June 30 1911 Inventory No 26 Nob 30462 to 31370". Bulletin of the Bureau of Plant Industry.
3. (30 January 2016). "Arecaceae ''Phytelephas seemannii'' O.F.Cook".
4. (1991). "A monographic study of the subfamily Phytelephantoideae (Arecaceae)". Opera Botanica.
5. (1986). "Isthmian Botanical Dictionary". Scientific Publishers.
6. (December 1996). "Floral Biology and Pollination of the Dioecious Palm ''Phytelephas seemannii'' in Colombia: An Adaptation to Staphylinid Beetles". Biotropica.
7. (January 1989). "A review of animal-mediated seed dispersal of palms". Selbyana.
8. (1996). "Natural History and Uses of Tagua (''Phytelephas seemannii'') in Panama". Principes.

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