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Lepidocaryum is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family from South America where the lone species, Lepidocaryum tenue, is commonly called poktamui. Nine species names have been published, but palm taxonomists currently agree that just one variable species includes them all. The most reduced member of the Lepidocaryeae, it is similar in appearance to two closely related genera, Mauritia and Mauritiella, as well as to the former genus Lytocaryum (now included in Syagrus). The genus name combines the Greek words for "scale" and "nut" and the species epithet is Latin for "thin".
Spread throughout Brazil's Amazon region, north to Venezuela, the wetter parts of Colombia, Guyana and Peru, it is an undergrowth palm found in low land rain forest. In habitat the leaves are often used in thatch.
In the Amazonian region of Peru, particularly in and around Iquitos, the palm's leaves are widely used for thatching roofs.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lepidocaryum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
