Etymology:
Latin, robusta, large.
Historical notes: Named in 1847 by Dutch botanist F.A.W. Miquel from plants of uncertain origin cultivated in European collections. All type material was apparently lost, and a new type based on material collected in Chiapas was designated in 1986. Distinguishing features: Large plants with long leaves and thick wide leaflets. Distribution and habitat: Widely distributed, in Belize, Guatemala and Mexico, Oaxaca (?Chiapas) and Veracruz states. An understorey plant in evergreen wet tropical forests. Conservation status: Not threatened. 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants category R.
Description:
Plants arborescent; stem 200 cm long, stem 30 cm diam. Leaves 8-30 in crown. New growth emerging bronze, red or chocolate brown, or mid-green. Leaves dark green, semiglossy, 150-300 cm long, flat (not keeled) in section, with 100-200 leaflets; vernation straight; rachis not or slightly spirally twisted; petiole 20-60 cm long, armed with prickles. Leaflets not clustered, lanceolate, symmetric, broadest below middle, falcate, concolorous, thick or leathery; margins recurved; median leaflets 20-30 cm long, 20-50 mm wide. Pollen cones brown, ovoid-cylindrical or narrowly ovoid-cylindrical, 30-50 cm long, 10-14 cm diam.; peduncle 10 cm long. Seed cones grey, ovoid-cylindrical, 30-50 cm long, 10-14 cm diam.; peduncle 15 cm long. Seeds ovoid, 25 mm long, 20 mm wide; sarcotesta white, aging to brown.
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