Riqueza y uso de las palmas en la región del Madidi, noreste del departamento de La Paz (Bolivia) Abstract Twenty-three genera and 49 species are represented in the northeastern part of the Department of La Paz. A new species for Bolivia has been added, Euterpe luminosa was previously only known from the Peruvian Andes. The diversity of palms with a DBH > 2.5 cm does not show a clear pattern with respect to the elevation, 68% of the species recorded are found in the lowlands below 500 m elevation this include inventories made in low-lying areas or swamp forests, forest on alluvial terraces both old and new and premontane forests; 27% were recorded in montane forests between 500 and 1500 m elevation and 45% in montane forests between 1.550 and 2.000 m. The average density of the palms with a DBH ≥ 2.5 cm varies between 31.8 and 47.3 individuals/0.1 ha. The highest density was found in the montane forest between 1.500 and 2.000 m where almost monotypic forest of Dictyocarium lamarckianum and Euterpe luminosa were inventoried. The area presents a mixture of phytogeographic elements that belong to three units: the Andes, the Amazon and the Cerrado. The 74% of species belong to the two first groups, one species has its origin in the Cerrado, and the rest 13 species (27%) are widely distributed in the Neotropics or found in a mixture of regions, distributed both in Amazonia forests as well as in montane forests. Twenty-two species are considered useful by the people of Madidi, this represent 45% of the total number of species. By Narel Y. Paniagua-Zambrana Missouri Botanical Garden y Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Casilla 10077, La Paz, Bolivia; current address: Department of Systematic Botany, Aarhus University, Herbarium Building 137, Ole Worms Alle 8000, Denmark. E-mail: bionp@biology.au.dk The entire paper has been submitted to Ecología en Bolivia in August 2004.

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