When time and funding permit, each flower (each plant species) will have its own page, and its own PDF, and eventually its own PPT so that professors and students have plenty of material on Guatemala (and Honduras, etc) to study.
Heliconia adflexa, Coban, Guatemala, Hotel Monja Blanca, FLAAR, by Nicholas Hellmuth
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Manicaria saccifera, confra palm, Municipio de Livingston, Izabal |
Manicaria saccifera Gaertn. in Guatemala only in coastal zonesYou see massive cohune (Corozo) palms as you drive into Izabal from the less wet areas south. And Attalea cohune and/or close relatives are in most hillside cow pastures between Livingston and Plan Grande Tatin. But around the coastal beach area of Buena Vista and brackish inland creek areas of Tapon Creek, and Taponcito Creek nature reserves, there are only a few areas with multiple examples of corozo palm. Same with guano palm: not many here near the coast. Is sea breeze and brackish water something these palms are not keen on? Yet on other parts of the Caribbean shore there are majestic growths of corozo palm. So we have a lot more to learn about. But in the meantime, where there are not many Peten hillside palms in the seasonally inundated flatlands of Izabal there are thousands of Manicaria saccifera palms, called confra. These palms have impressive potential for housing materials. Where else can you find Manicaria sacciferaSo far this confra palm is listed primarily for the sea coastal areas of Belize, Izabal, Honduras and down south into South America. I am thus surprised not (yet) to find it in sea coastal areas of Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco or Veracruz (Mexico). This raises the question of what is in the sand and soil of Belize and Izabal that is missing in Quintana Roo and elsewhere around the Caribbean? 90% of the maps of botanical gardens and websites are totally incorrect for distribution: these maps are just colored blobs that show an entire country with green when a plant is found even only in one small area of that country. www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:668116-1 This is misleading to students and scholars who do not know the plant in-person or the ecosystems of the country that is blobbed with the supposed total presence of a plant. The location for this plant is coastal (for Guatemala and Belize) and the map should show this in an acceptable manner. Manicaria saccifera, confra palm has so much potential Local Mayan people say clearly that Manicaria saccifera, confra palm is significantly better than other palms for thatching their homes. We will have a separate page and separate photo album of the confra palm as roof thatch by end of this year. Chemists and engineers suggest that the fibers of Manicaria saccifera, confra palm can be used to manufacturer panels for houses and even airplanes (Porras and colleagues, see bibliography). We first noticed this palm earlier this year since I am not (yet) aware of it in Peten or Alta Verapaz. We will be doing a lot more fieldwork in Izabal during the coming year and will be reporting back. Our PDF (photo album; photo essay on Manicaria saccifera) will be ready in a week or so. Bibliography, books, articles, web sites: List of Suggested Reading on Manicaria saccifera, confra palm
Suggested web pages www.backyardnature.net/yucatan/manicaria.htm www.gbif.org/es/species/2735044 www.palmweb.org/cdm_dataportal/taxon/ce04443e-bf1a-4e9f-aa57-35927147d0ef http://recursos.normalpopayan.edu.co:8983/wikipedia_es_all_2017-08/A/Manicaria.html www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-119702 http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Manicaria+saccifera
First posted October 23, 2020. |