Oenocarpus bataua Mart., Arecaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 2 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Jessenia bataua (Mart.) Burret; Jessenia oligocarpa Griseb. & H. Wendl.; Jessenia polycarpa H. Karst.; Oenocarpus oligocarpus (Griseb. & H. Wendl.) Wess. Boer

Common name(s): [more details]

English: bataua palm, kumbu, pataua palm

Spanish: patabá, seje, ungurahui

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Only in age the columnar stems smooth when 20 meters high or higher, 2 dm. in diameter, in youth more or less marked by or enclosed in the spiniform remnants of the leaf-sheaths; leaves 8-10, crowded, erect-spreading, 10 meters long or longer, the equally distant segments linear-lanceolate, mostly about 2 meters long, 1 dm. wide; spadices few, 1-2 meters long, the many branches fastigiate, strict, incrassate above; lower spathe half as long as upper, extended into a fuscous tomentose mucro; male petals ovate-oblong, subacute; fruit violet-purplish, cylindric-ellipsoid (stigmas nearly on the rounded apex), 3-3.5 cm. long, 2-2.25 cm. in diameter, the oblong seed acute at both ends"  (MacBride, 1960; 13(1/2):379-380).

"Canopy palm. Stem solitary, to 20 m tall and 20-40 cm in diameter, smooth. Leaves erect, forming a funnel shaped crown, to 10 m long; sheath open to base, with abundant black, stout fibres at the margins, intermixed with brown, wooly fibres; pinnae 100 or more on each side, one-ribbed, 1-1.5 m long, more or less pendulous. Inflorescence once branched, with numerous pendulous branches, to 1.2 m long, borne on a very short axis. Fruits elongate, purple when ripe, pointed at apex, 2.5-4 cm long"  (Borchsenius, 1998, in Palmweb).

Habitat/ecology:  "Moist forest areas below 1000 m elevation. Occasionally the palm is found up to 1350 m"  (Borchsenius, 1998, in Palmweb).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Trinidad & Tobago, Panama, northern and western South America, Brazil (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced cultivated	Randall, R. P. (2007) (p. 334)
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Panama Panama	Panama (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	Macbride, J. Francis (1936) (pp. 13(1/2):379-380) As Jessenia bataua (Mart.) Burret

Additional information:
Information and photos from Palmweb.

Additional online information about Oenocarpus bataua is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

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

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

References:

Macbride, J. Francis. 1936. Flora of Peru. Field Museum of Natural History, Botanical Series, Vol. XIII. 1936-1971, 6 parts.

Palmweb. 2012. Palmweb: Palms of the World Online.

Randall, R. P. 2007. The introduced flora of Australia and its weed status. CRC for Australian Weed Management, Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia. 524 pp.
Also:  Searchable online database at http://weeds.cbit.uq.edu.au/.

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