Iriartea deltoidea belongs to the palm family Arecaceae, native to Central and South America.

 Iriartea is a genus in the palm family Arecaceae, native to Central and South America. The best-known species – and probably the only one – is Iriartea deltoidea, which is found from Nicaragua south into Bolivia and a great portion of Western Amazonian basin. It is the most common tree in many forests in which it occurs. It is known by such names as bombona (which can also refer to other palms, e.g. Attalea regia)

Common name 

Stilt Palm
Copa Palm
Barrigona Palm
Huacrapona (local name)

Location 

Bolivia, Plurinational States of; Brazil; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; Nicaragua; Panama; Peru; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of.

Description 

A slow growing palm up to 98 ft./30 m. The trunks are grey, smooth and sometimes are loaded with epiphytes (bromeliads, orchids, ferns). The infrafoliar inflorescence is yellow or cream colored and comes out from a big green spathe with horn-like structure. The fruits are globose and green colored. The black stilt roots can reach 1 meter or less.

Canopy palm. Stem to 20 m tall and 20-40 cm in diameter, often swollen in the middle. Base supported by a 1-2 m tall cone of black stilt roots, these 3-5 cm in diameter. Leaves 4-6, 3-5 m long, bushy; pinnae numerous, longitudinally split, spreading in different planes, green on both sides. Inflorescence buds 1-3 m long, downwards curved, resembling a bulls horn. Inflorescence cream coloured in flower, the numerous pendulous branches to 1.5 m long, borne on a short curved axis. Fruits dull bluish black, globose, ca. 3 cm in diameter.

Provides a very hard, rot-resistant timber. Used by the local indians for housing; the logs are split, the spongy centre removed, and the hard outer trunk is used for flooring.Flowers are pollinated by bees. Fruits are copiously produced and are eaten directly from the tree by toucans and monkeys, fallen fruit are eaten by peccaries, rodents and red and grey brocket deer.

Habitat Type 

It occurs from pre-montane forest on steep Andean slopes to lowland rain forest along stream margins.This species is considered to be abundant on eastern Andean slopes below 1,000 m asl.