Attalea phalerataMart. ex Spreng.

WFO wfo-0000296432 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Attalea phalerata, photographed by Fernando Sessegolo
fig. a Fernando Sessegolo, CC0 1.0 / 2022-05-30 / obs. 203932657
Attalea phalerata, photographed by Luis Recalde
fig. b Luis Recalde, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188959770
Attalea phalerata, photographed by João D'Andretta
fig. c João D'Andretta, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 107454253
Attalea phalerata, photographed by Paul Prior
fig. d Paul Prior, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 53403015
Attalea phalerata, photographed by Millie Basden
fig. e Millie Basden, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 48626130
Attalea phalerata, photographed by Diogo Luiz
fig. f Diogo Luiz, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 58345730
Attalea phalerata, photographed by Diogo Luiz
fig. g Diogo Luiz, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 57589969
Attalea phalerata, photographed by Morten Ross
fig. h Morten Ross, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 110607539

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 7 botanical countries

Regions where Attalea phalerata is native: Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Paraguay, Peru BoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralParaguayPeru
Native distribution of Attalea phalerata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Bolivia BOL SOUTHERN AMERICA
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 380 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 14.9 °C 17.8 °C 20.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 28.8 °C 31.3 °C 33.1 °C
Annual rainfall 1,133 mm 1,463 mm 2,186 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 33 mm 91 mm 172 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 380 research-grade observations of Attalea phalerata that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 30 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Attalea amylacea (Barb.Rodr.) Zona
  • Attalea anisitsiana (Barb.Rodr.) Zona
  • Attalea excelsa Mart. ex Spreng.
  • Attalea excelsa Mart.
  • Attalea gomphococca Mart.
  • Attalea hoehnei Burret
  • Attalea huebneri (Burret) Zona
  • Attalea lauromuelleriana (Barb.Rodr.) Zona
  • Attalea pacensis M.Moraes & Pintaud
  • Attalea parviflora Barb.Rodr.
  • Attalea princeps Mart.
  • Attalea weberbaueri (Burret) Zona
  • Maximiliana princeps Mart.
  • Maximiliana tetrasticha Drude
  • Scheelea amylacea Barb.Rodr.
  • Scheelea anisitsiana Barb.Rodr.
  • Scheelea corumbaensis (Barb.Rodr.) Barb.Rodr.
  • Scheelea gomphococca (Mart.) Burret
  • Scheelea huebneri Burret
  • Scheelea lauromuelleriana Barb.Rodr.
  • Scheelea martiana Burret
  • Scheelea microspadix Burret
  • Scheelea parviflora (Barb.Rodr.) Barb.Rodr.
  • Scheelea phalerata (Mart. ex Spreng.) Burret

and 6 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.