Abstract

GUEVARA, Lorena  and  GARZON, Paola. Morfoanatomia de organos vegetativos aereos en Desmoncus Orthacanthos Mart. (Arecaceae, Arecoideae). Ernstia [online]. 2008, vol.18, n.1, pp.071-088. ISSN 0252-8274.

Desmoncus is one of the two climbing palm genera in the American tropics, with containing important species from ecological and ethnobotanical points of view, which along with its morpho-anatomy, have been scarcely explored. The aim of this study is to describe the morpho-anatomy of the vegetative aerial organs of Desmoncus orthacanthos in order to provide information about structural adaptations related to its habit. Plant material was collected in the University Botanical Garden of Maracay; measurements in some structures, hand sectioning and leaf macerations were made. This species is multistemmed, decumbent, with petiolate pinnately compound leaves, sheathing leaf bases, and bears straight spines on sheath, petiole, rachis and leaflets. The stem, petiole, rachis and cirrus have similar anatomy. The leaflet blade has homogenous mesophyll and hypodermis towards both epidermis. As in all non climbing palms, D. orthacanthos presents abundant fibers in its organs, however, the reduced diameter of the stem and terminal leaflets facilitate the climbing function. The leaflets show xeromorphic anatomical characteristics.

Keywords : Arecaceae; climber; Desmoncus orthacanthos; morpho-anatomy.