499
edits
Changes
no edit summary
{{Inc|
Acrocomia (name means a tuft of leaves at the top). Palmaceae, tribe Bactridineae. A showy genus of American palms. Not popular in the trade because of their spiny habit and rather unattractive young state. The adult plants, however, are very graceful.
Leaflets narrowly linear, long, usually obliquely acuminate, the margins naked and recurved, the midrib often spiny on lower sides of lfts.; rachis and petioles usually hairy, always more or less spiny: fls. yellowish, monoecious, the spathes ultimately becoming woody; calyx small, of 3 ovate sepals; corolla of 3 oblong-lanceolate or ovate petals: fr. usually about 1 in. diam., glabrous or sometimes prickly or tomentose. —There are only 8 species, all natives of Trop. Amer. except A. Totai. Most closely related to Cocos, from which the Amer. species differ in having spines. See G.C. II. 22:427. Bull. Torrey Club, 28:565.
These palms are usually spiny and have large, terminal, pinnate leaves. All except A. Totai should be grown in a warmhouse, with a night temperature not lower than 60°. They should be potted in soil similar to that for the coconuts, and, if possible, planted out directly. It has been found by some that overpotting the young plants is a danger likely to be incurred. The palms grow slowly and should not be transferred to a new pot until they become almost pot-bound.
Propagation is by suckers, which come freely in most species. Seeds are not known in cultivation for any of the species except A. sclerocarpa.
}}
{{Taxobox | color = lightgreen
{{Taxobox | color = lightgreen
| name = ''Acrocomia aculeata''
| name = ''Acrocomia aculeata''