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Aphandra natalia
Aphandra is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the palm family native to the Amazon rainforest vegetation in South America (Ecuador, Brazil, and Peru). Its only species is Aphandra natalia, sometimes called mastodon palm or fiber palm, and is used by indigenous peoples in the construction of brooms and other products. This plant is commercially exploited for its edible fruits, and for its leaf sheath and petiole fibers. This fiber is almost equal to the fiber extracted from Attalea funifera and Leopoldinia piassaba, which is called piassava.
The genus name is a combination of Ammandra and Phytelephas, two closely related palm genera, and the epithet "natalia" honors Natalie Uhl, modern palm taxonomist.
A. natalia grows in eastern Ecuador through northern Peru to western Brazil reaching altitudes of 800 m. They are an under-story palm in the Amazon rainforest stretching to the foothills of the Andes.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Aphandra by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
