Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: ivory palm

Spanish: cadi, tagua

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Palm with a single trunk, to 20 m tall, 70 cm in diameter, without a crownshaft.  Leaves 15-30, to 4 m long; leaflets united to the rachis on a single plane, slender, to 70 cm long.  Male and female inflorescences on separate trees; the male inflorescence to 2 m long, the female inflorescence to 50 cm long, in the axils of fresh leaves, the tepals to 30 cm long.  Fruits brown with a spiny, bony, outer cover to 10 cm in diameter" (Dolson & Gentry, 1978; p. 206).

Habitat/ecology:  In Ecuador, "in mature forest, but left in pastures and banana plantations" (Dolson & Gentry, 1978; p. 206).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Ecuador (Dolson & Gentry, 1978; p. 206).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced cultivated	Charles Darwin Research Station (2005)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2008)

Comments:  Reported as possibly an invasive plant in the Galápagos Islands per Charles Darwin Research Station.

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

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

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

References:

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

Dodson, C. H./Gentry, A. H. 1978. Flora of the Rio Palenque Science Center. Selbyana 4.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2008. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.