Kerriodoxa elegans
| Kerriodoxa elegans | ||||||||||||
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Kerriodoxa elegans |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Kerriodoxa | ||||||||||||
| J.Dransf. | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Kerriodoxa elegans | ||||||||||||
| J.Dransf. |
Kerriodoxa elegans is a palm species endemic to Thailand . It is the only species in the genus Kerriodoxa .
features
Kerriodoxa elegans is a palm with a very short, upright trunk, but it can also grow without a trunk. It is single-stemmed, unarmed, blooming several times and dioeciously separate-sexed ( diocesan ). The trunk is covered by the dried up leaf bases and can become smooth with age. Then the closely spaced leaf scars can be seen.
The number of chromosomes is not known.
leaves
The leaves are large and divided into a fan shape. They dry up on the plant. The leaf sheath tears opposite the petiole and does not completely encompass the stem and is not fibrous. The petiole is clearly developed, grooved on the upper side, rounded on the lower side, the edges are hard and sharp. The stem surface is densely hairy. The located on the upper leaf surface (adaxial) Hastula is striking the abaxial is not formed.
The leaf blade is regularly divided along the adaxial ribs to about a quarter to a third of the leaf radius. The segments are simply folded (induplicate), narrow and herbaceous. The top is bald with the exception of a hairline along the ribs. Abaxially it is covered with a dense white indument .
Inflorescences and flowers
The inflorescences are individually in the leaf axils below the leaves (infrafoliar). They appear through a cleft on the abaxial side of the leaf sheath of their bract . Male and female inflorescences have very different structures.
Male inflorescences and flowers
The male inflorescences are strong, branched up to four times. The inflorescence is strongly contracted, initially cream-colored, later brown. The peduncle is short. The cover sheet is Roehrig and hidden in the leaf sheaths. The inflorescence axis is longer than the stem and carries up to 15 bracts . They are tubular below, triangular above, adaxially glabrous, abaxially densely hairy. The side branches of the first order have grown together with the axis almost to the point where the next bract begins. All axes are densely hairy. The bracts of the lateral axes of the second and higher order are somewhat wavy, tubular with a triangular free tip. The flower-bearing axes (rachillae) are very slender, somewhat zigzag-shaped and have tubular bracts with a wavy edge. Each has two flowers and a small, triangular bractole .
The male flowers are very small, symmetrical and creamy-yellow when they bloom. The calyx has a triangular tube at the bottom that is densely hairy and three narrow, triangular, keeled, rather bald lobes with a slightly wavy edge. The crown is stalked at the base, triangular with three lobes. The margin and the abaxial sides are papilose . The six stamens are in two circles, the outer ones are free, the inner ones are fused with each other at the base and with the crown. The stamens are of equal length, the anthers are oval and latrors . One stamp rudiment is missing.
The pollen is ellipsoidal and slightly to strongly asymmetrical. The germ opening is a distal sulcus . The longest axis measures 22 to 33 microns.
Female inflorescences and flowers
The female inflorescences stand upright and are stronger than the male and less contracted. They are only twofold. The bracts on the stem and axis are similar to those of the male inflorescences, but are larger. Lateral axes of the first and second order appear structured due to the thick hair on the axes and the bare bracts. The rachillae are slightly zigzag. The bracts have short, triangular tips and a bare edge. Each has a short, densely hairy spur on which there is a pair of flowers. The bracts, if any, are covered by the hairs.
The female flowers are larger than the male and creamy yellow when they bloom. The calyx forms a densely hairy tube with three short, narrow, triangular, bald lobes. The crown is stem-like, densely hairy at the base and ends in three triangular lobes that spread out towards the flower. The edge of the lobes is somewhat translucent, serrated, or papillary. The six staminodes have long stamens and flat, empty anthers. The gynoeceum is composed of three, rarely four carpels. They are free at the top, but grown together in the middle. The scars are short and curved outwards. The ovule starts laterally and is anatropic .
Fruits and seeds
The fruit is one, rarely two-seeded. At 5 cm, it is relatively large, spherical, with a concave impression at the base. The carpels and scar remains that have not developed are retained at the base of the ripe fruit. The base of the crown enlarges after fertilization. The exocarp is orange-yellow, and covered with pustules. The mesocarp is thick, soft and spongy, the endocarp is thin. The seed sits basal, the endosperm is slightly furrowed. The embryo sits subbasally.
Distribution and locations
The species is known from only two locations in southern Thailand . It grows in groups in the undergrowth of rather dry evergreen forest on hill slopes between about 100 and 300 m above sea level.
Systematics
The genus Kerriodoxa is placed within the family Arecaceae in the subfamily Coryphoideae , tribe Chuniophoeniceae . The relationships within the tribe are not clearly clarified.
In the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew only the species Kerriodoxa elegans is recognized.
The name Kerriodoxa honors the collector of Thai plants Arthur Francis George Kerr (1877–1942), a Northern Irish-British doctor and botanist. The ending -doxa comes from the Greek and means "fame". Genus and species were first described in 1983 by John Dransfield .
use
The palm is not known to have been used in its homeland. As an ornamental plant , it is now quite widespread in suitable climates.
literature
- John Dransfield, Natalie W. Uhl, Conny B. Asmussen, William J. Baker, Madeline M. Harley, Carl E. Lewis: Genera Palmarum. The Evolution and Classification of Palms . Second edition, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2008, ISBN 978-1-84246-182-2 , pp. 290-292.
Individual evidence
- ^ Robert Lee Riffle, Paul Craft: An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms , 4th Edition, Timber Press, Portland 2007, ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6 , p. 361.
- ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Kerriodoxa. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved November 22, 2009.
- ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
Web links
- Kerriodoxa on the homepage of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
- Kerriodoxa elegans on the PACSOA homepage