In article 4cqNa.1716$7e.1643@fed1read07, wrote...

I was in the jungle of Tortuguero in north east Costa Rica,
and was shown some trees that they called Walking Trees.
They stood up in the air on their roots and actually could
move a little distance each year. I believe they said their
name was something like "Makainki" but I cannot find that
word.

Can someone tell me the proper name for the Walking Tree
in Costa Rica?

Didn't recall the name "walking tree", but lots of trees in CR
and elsewhere do form stilt roots.

Searching for "walking tree" finds a few sites with pictures
but no scientific names:

http://www.robjensen.com/month_featu...es/costa19.jpg
http://www.chenry.com/PhotoAlbum/Cos...3/P0000160.JPG
http://www.worldexperience.com/pv.ht...0&FileType=jpg

might all be palms with large stilt roots. I recall _Iriartea_ species
and Socratea species as both being like this.

http://www.rachaelvanfleet.com/maste...ica/costa.html

looks like an Socratea-type palm to me.

http://llk.media.mit.edu/projects/eThinking/tree.html

doesn't give a name.

http://jajhs.kana.k12.wv.us/amazon/question.htm#ques1

asks your same question, but is just told that there are many
trees with stilt roots.

The "walking tree" in

http://www.photo.net/cr/walking-tree-chantal.jpg

isn't a palm, and I doubt it can "walk"

http://www.trentu.ca/biology/TEWebPa...dplantlist.htm

lists both Iriartea and Socratea species as "walking palm"

http://www.strayreality.com/mystery1.htm
briefly describes Costa Rica's "walking palms"
[Socratea and Iriartea species]

http://www.plantapalm.com/vpe/photos...exorrhizae.htm

looks about right.

http://hk.geocities.com/alhy731/trf/plants.htm

http://bio.bd.psu.edu/biobd497g/Cost...tsandtrees.htm :

"Walking Palm Socratea durissima"

Okay, then.

http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/treat/geonom.html

has this to say:

"Iriartea deltoidea is a widespread and familiar canopy palm,
characterized by its dense cone of blackish, spiny stilt-roots and
pinnately compound lf.-blades with "fish-tail" shaped, praemorse lflts.
disposed in various planes. These features distinguish it from all
other Costa Rican palms except for the related and vegetatively very
similar Socratea exorrhiza. Close at hand, adult specimens of Iriartea
may be told from S. exorrhiza by their darker, more numerous, and more
densely aggregated stilt roots [...]"

[Wet forests, 0--800 m; entire Atl. slope, Pac. slope vic. Palmar Norte
(Fila Retinto) to Pen. Osa. Fl. 1--5, 11--12].

"Socratea exorrhiza is a canopy or subcanopy palm, recognized by its
tall, open cone of brownish, spiny stilt-roots and pinnately compound
lf.-blades with broadly cuneate, praemorse, longitudinally splitting.
lflts., with the segments disposed in various planes. These features
distinguish it sharply from all other Costa Rican palms except for the
very similar and sympatric (though perhaps more widespread) Iriartea
deltoidea, which differs in having a denser cone of blackish stilt-roots
[...]

[Wet forests, 0--750 m; Atl. slope Cords. Central (to RNFS Barra del
Colorado and PN Tortuguero) and Talamanca, Pac. slope V.de El General,
Golfo Dulce region. Fl. 2--3. Extr. SE Nic. to Bol., Fr. Guiana, Braz.]

So, both species may be near Tortuguero. The ones with larger,
looser-spaced lighter-colored stilt roots

http://www.rachaelvanfleet.com/maste...ica/costa.html

would be the Socratea palms, the ones with denser, darker stilts like

http://www.robjensen.com/month_featu...es/costa19.jpg

should be the Iriartea palms.

Hope this helps.

cheers