Descripción: Palma que alcanza de 10 a 25 m de alto. Tronco con raíces fúlcreas en la base. Las raíces con espinas cónicas pequeñas y de color blanco. El ápice del tronco es de color verde claro. Hojas pinnadas y de 2-3 m de largo, con más de 15 pares de folíolos asimétricos, distribuidos en varios planos a cada lado del raquis, lo cual le brinda una apariencia plumosa a las hojas. Pecíolo de 15-40 cm de largo y de color verde grisáceo. La especie es monoica. Flores blancas. Frutos en drupas globosas, de 2-3 cm de largo.

Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas y medianas elevaciones, en bosques húmedos o muy húmedos. En Panamá se encuentra en las provincias de Bocas del Toro, Coclé, Colón, Darién, Panamá y la comarca de Guna Yala. Común y ampliamente distribuida en bosques poco intervenidos de Panamá. Florece y fructifica de marzo a noviembre.

Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK iriade Iriartea deltoidea LK2 , pero en I. deltoidea las raíces son de color negro con los extremos apicales de color marrón, a veces de forma similar a un ‘pene’. También la inflorescencia se encuentra encerrada en una vaina arqueada y de forma similar a un cuerno de vaca, lo cual no ocurre en Socratea.

Usos: El tronco es empleado para construir pisos y paredes de casas. Las raíces espinosas se utilizan para rayar coco (Cocos nucifera) y yuca (Manihot esculenta).

Stilt palm, Jira Monoecious, slender, stilt-rooted tree, 25-30 m tall; wood very hard; trunk to 15 cm diam, ringed; stilt roots 1-3 m high, often replacing the trunk at base, bearing short spines; crownshaft bluish-green, very long and bulging at base. Blades 2 m long or more; petioles rounded on underside; leaflets +/- regular, in 8-14 pairs, narrow at base, greatly broadened to deeply toothed at apex (the terminal pair united, truncate), inserted on rachis at an angle (the proximal edge higher on rachis, the distal edge lower on rachis), often splitting in age, the various parts then directed at different angles, the ribs numerous, raised on lower surface; juvenile plants much like adults, the blades entire or with few pinnae. Inflorescences borne below the crownshaft; spathes 2, thin, 40-50 cm long, both deciduous as a single unit; spadix stout with up to 16 stout branches, to 60 cm long; peduncles about as long as or longer than rachis, stout, flattened laterally, drooping in fruit; staminate flowers to 1.2 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, soon falling; sepals 3, minute; petals 3, thick, concave; stamens numerous (ca 50), about as long as petals, the filaments very short; pistillate flower usually borne between 2 staminate flowers, much smaller and obscured by them. Fruits oblong, 2.5-3 cm long, with a small subapical point, the cupule bowl-shaped, to 1 cm wide; seeds 1-3, to 2.5 cm long, beaked at base and marked with anastomosing lines, enveloped very loosely by thin woody husk at maturity. Croat 8160, 8638. Common throughout the forest; sometimes locally abundant. Seasonal behavior uncertain. Flowering chiefly in the early rainy season (May to August), but sometimes in the dry season as well. Most fruits mature in the middle to late dry season. Juvenile or mature-sized fruits may be found on the ground at most times of the year. Oppenheimer (pers. comm.) reports that fruits are eaten by white-faced monkeys during March and April.

Bocas Species Database

Characteristics: Palm tree that reaches from 10 to 25 m in height. The roots have small, white, conical spines. Ramified inflorescence with white flowers. Fruits turn yellowish green when ripe.