PALM S Cano et al.: Darién Gap Palms Vol. 61(1) 2017 ÁNGELA CANO 1, H ÉCTOR FAVIO MANRIQUE 2, S AÚL E. H OYOS -G ÓMEZ 3, NORMAN ECHAVARRÍA 4, A NDRÉS UPEGUI 5, M ARÍA F. G ONZÁLEZ 6, GLORIA GALEANO 6† AND RODRIGO Palms BERNAL 2 1University of Geneva, Laboratoire de Systématique Végétale et Biodiversité, of the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, 1, Chemin de l’Impératrice, 1292, Chambésy, Darién Gap Switzerland.
[email protected] 2 Jardín Botánico del Quindío, Avenida Centenario No. 15-190, Calarca, (Colombia- Quindío., Colombia.
[email protected],
[email protected] Panama) 3 Corporacion Fragmento, Carrera 77 No 33 A 61 Medellín, Colombia.
[email protected] 4 Departamento de Biología, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia. 5
[email protected] 6 Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. The Darién Gap is a poorly explored area of pristine forest around the Panama- Colombia border, and it marks the only break in the Pan-American highway that runs from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. This area has been a crossroad for the migration of plants and animals between North America and South America, ever since the closure of the Panama Isthmus around 10 million years ago. The palms of this unique area are discussed here for the first time. The Darién Gap is a mythical area that has of the most poorly explored regions on earth. fascinated biologists and adventurers for Few scientists have explored its mangroves and decades. Located on the border between coastal forests, its freshwater swamps, its Colombia and Panama (Fig.