View source for Martinezia

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Martinezia (Rev. Dr. Baltasar Jacobo Martinez Companon, archbishop of Santa Fe, who sent many early collections of plants from Peru). Palmaceae, tribe Bactrideae. Ornamental feather-leaved palms, with spiny ringed trunks.

Leaves pinnate, the segms. broad, wedge-shaped, alternate or grouped, the apex truncate and ragged: petioles and rachis spiny, as are also the spadices and spathes of the infl.: fls. rather small, the calyx with 3 segms.; stamens 6, inserted in the disk: fr. globose, 1-celled, orange, scarlet or rose-pink.—Species about 8. Trop. Amer. G.C. II. 26:491.

Martinezias are beautiful palms, and make fairly good house plants but their spiny character is against their popularity. They must have a stove temperature. They do not require a great amount of soil. Light sandy loam, with plenty of sharp sand, is best. They need abundant moisture. They sometimes flower in cultivation, but the four kinds given below are distinct by their foliage and spines. Like all armed palms, they are slow to germinate, but after the first or second year they grow fairly fast. The commonest and best kind is M. caryotaefolia, which has fewer spines than the other species and, unlike many other palms, shows its true leaves at a very early stage. It resembles the fish-tail palms (Caryota), but the leaves are a lighter green and usually larger. M. erosa makes a better specimen at 5 to 6 feet than when small. It is much more jagged at the tips of the leaves. Being very spiny all over, it is less desirable. M. Lindeniana is more like the first. The spines are longer but not very numerous. M. granatensis is of coarser habit and slower growth, and desirable only for large collections.

M.truncata, Brongn. Trunk about 20 ft.: lvs. 4-5 ft. long, spreading, the petiole and trunk covered with brownish black spines; lfts. smooth, prominently veined and beautifully dark green. — A fine showy Bolivian species scarcely known in the trade.
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