Dictyocaryum H.Wendl. Original reference: Bonplandia 8: 105 (1860) Morphology: Giant, monoecious palms. Stem solitary, tall, smooth, swollen in the middle. Base with a tall, dense cone of stiltroots. Leaves pinnate, regularly divided; sheaths closed, tubular, forming a bluish green crownshaft; pinnae jagged at apex, silverish green below, in adult individuals longitudinally divided into a large number of narrow segments that point in all directions and bend in the middle, thus giving the leaf a strongly bushy appearance; apical leaf segment bifid. Inflorescence erect, cream coloured, branched 2 times, with one prophyll and several peduncular bracts; branches proximally with groups of one female and two male flowers, distally only with paired or solitary males. Flowers with 3 free sepals, and 3 free or basally united petals; male flowers with 6 stamens and a short pistillode; female flowers 6 minute staminodes and 3 united carpels. Fruit small to medium sized, rounded or elongate, with basal stigmatic residue, dark brown, smooth; seed elongate with a conspicuous net of fibres. Distribution and diversity: A genus of three species mostly occurring at mid-elevations in the Guyana highlands and the Andes. One species in Ecuador.

Crown and inflorescence of Dictyocaryum lamarckianum along the road from Baeza to Lago Agrio on the E slopes of the Andes in Ecuador Photo: H. B. Pedersen Palms of Ecuador Home Dictyocaryum lamarckianum