Chamaedorea seifrizii Burret, Arecaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 6 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Chamaedorea erumpens H. E. Moore

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: xue fo li ye zi, zhu jing ling long ye zi, zhu lü

English: bamboo palm, reed palm, Seifriz's bamboo palm, Seifriz's chamaedorea

Japanese: kamaedorea sefurijii, kireba teeburu yashi

Spanish: camedor xiat

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Plants cespitose in clumps of as many as 40 slender green stems to 3 meters high or more, 11-17 mm. in diameter, the internodes elongate; leaves about 4, pinnate, the cylindric sheaths 16.5-20 cm. long, striate-nerved, the petiole 4.5-8 cm. long, the rachis green below, 18-47.5 cm. long with 5-15 deep green pinnae on each side, the terminal pair sometimes scarcely larger than those below, sometimes broader and then to 9 cm. wide and 7-9-nerved and lower pinnae 4-5 on each side of a foreshortened rachis; pinnae lanceolate, tapered subfalcately below to a short-acuminate or acute pendulous tip, the median largest, to 27.5 cm. long, 1.6-3 cm. wide, all but the terminal pair with a central primary nerve prominent below but scarcely elevated above and a pair of lateral and submarginal nerves on each side, the remainder of two orders, numerous and inconspicuous; inflorescences solitary, erumpent through the sheaths at the nodes or persisting below the leaves, the peduncles short, 4-7 cm. long, subtended by 5 short, closely sheathing spathes, the uppermost sometimes exceeding the peduncle and split along the lower side, the green staminate spadix with 6-11 erect or spreading, simple or rarely furcate branches 7.6-15 cm. long from a rachis 2-4.5 cm. long, the flowers yellow, somewhat sunken in a loose spiral, the nerveless sepals very shortly connate at the base, imbricate above, 1 mm. high, the petals nerveless, valvate above a shortly connate base, fleshy, not connate at the tip, the stamens with short filaments and anthers bifid at the tip, pistillode columnar, 3-lobed at the apex; pistillate spadix with 4-6 simple erect deep green branches 9-10.5 cm. long from a rachis 1-2.5 cm. long, becoming thickened and orange in fruit, the yellow flowers somewhat sunken in a loose spiral, sepals green drying yellow, imbricate, 1-2 mm. high, petals imbricate, nerveless, acutish, 3 mm. high, drying brown and slightly nerved, staminodes present, pistil subglobose with sessile stigmas; fruit black at maturity, globose, about 8 mm. in diameter"  (Standley and Steyermark, 1958; 24(1)234-235).

"Stems clustering. Leaves pinnately divided; segments ca. 20 cm, uniform in width or terminal segments wider than other segment. Fruits black, globose, 5-8 mm in diameter, black.  The segments may be narrow or broad, terminal segments may be equal or wider than other segments, and segments may be upright or flat"  (Flora of North America online).

Habitat/ecology:  In Florida (U.S.), "moist organic soil over limestone in mesic hammocks and disturbed wooded areas; 0-10 m"  (Flora of North America online).  In Guatemala (native), "dense, wet, lowland forests at altitudes of 500 meters or less"  (Standley and Steyermark, 1958; 24(1)234-235).

Propagation:  Seed.  "The fruits of Chamaedorea seifrizii, ripening from green through orange to black, are taken by birds, and seedlings thrive in shaded, moist habitats"  (Flora of North America online).

Native range:  Belize, Mexico, Honduras (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1994) (voucher ID: BISH 637724) Taxon name on voucher: Chamaedorea seifrizii
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1979) (voucher ID: BISH 437027) Taxon name on voucher: Chamaedorea seifrizii
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 111) Voucher cited: Suprin in MacKee 45976

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Guatemala Guatemala	Guatemala (Republic of)	native	Standley, Paul C./Steyermark, Julian A. (1958) (pp. 24(1)234-235) As Chamaedorea erumpens H. E. Moore
Honduras Honduras	Honduras (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 25)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Chamaedorea seifrizii is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Chamaedorea seifrizii as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Chamaedorea seifrizii may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1979. Voucher specimen #BISH437027(Ishikawa, S.S. 486).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1994. Voucher specimen #BISH637724(Flynn, T. 5515).

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 2011. Flora of North America North of Mexico (online edition).

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Porcher, Michel H. 2011. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database. The University of Melbourne, Australia. Online resource.

Standley, Paul C./Steyermark, Julian A. 1958. Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany. Vol. 24, Part I. Chicago Natural History Museum. 478 pp.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.