Medemia argun

Medemia argun
	Medemia argun
Systematics
	Monocots
	Commelinids
Order :	Palm- like arecales
Family :	Palm family (Arecaceae)
Genre :	Medemia
Type :	Medemia argun
Scientific name of the genus
	Medemia
	Württemb. ex H. Wendl.
Scientific name of the species
	Medemia argun
	( Mart. ) Wuerttemb. ex H. Wendl.

Medemia argun is a palm species native to Egypt and Sudan. It is the only species in the genus Medemia .

features

Medemia argun is a moderately large, single-stemmed, tree-shaped, unreinforced fan palm . It is dioecious, separate sexes ( diocesan ) and flourishes several times. The trunk is upright, up to 9 m high and closely covered with leaf scars. The leaves are costapalmatian and remain on the plant after they die (marzescence) or fall off under their own weight. You don't have a hastula . The endocarp of the round fruits is smooth, the endosperm is furrowed (ruminate).

Medemia differs from the closely related genera by the following combination of features: The fruit is egg-shaped, the seed is not furrowed and has a ruminate endosperm. The endocarp is not winged and has a terminal pore.

The number of chromosomes is unknown.

Distribution and locations

The genus is native to southern Egypt and northeastern Sudan , where it grows in desert oases and wadis.

Systematics

The genus Medemia is placed within the family Arecaceae in the subfamily Coryphoideae , Tribus Borasseae and Subtribus Hyphaeninae. The genus is monotypical , it consists of the only species Medemia argun . Her sister group is Hyphaene .

In the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, only the species Medemia argun is recognized.

A second species has been described, Medemia adiadensis , which is said to be characterized by smaller fruits. Their species status has been denied since Odoardo Beccari .

history

In the past, Medemia may have been used similarly to the widespread genus Hyphaene . Overuse could then also explain today's rarity. The fruits should be edible.

Subfossil fruits in 3500 year old Egyptian graves were initially referred to as Areca passalacquae , but were recognized as belonging to Medemia argun (at that time still called Hyphaene argun ) by Franz Unger in 1859 .

The species was thought to be extinct for several decades because it was not found after 1963. Palm trees were only found in Wadi Delah in Sudan in 1995, and then in other places the following year.

supporting documents

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. 317ff.

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b ^c ^d Robert Lee Riffle, Paul Craft: An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms , 4th Edition, Timber Press, Portland 2007, ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6 , p. 387.
↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Medemia. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved January 28, 2011.

Web links

Medemia on the homepage of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Medemia argun inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.1. Listed by: Johnson, D., 1998. Retrieved October 15, 2013.

[RiffleCraft-1] A ^b ^c ^d Robert Lee Riffle, Paul Craft: An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms , 4th Edition, Timber Press, Portland 2007, ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6 , p. 387.

[WCSP-2] Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Medemia. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved January 28, 2011.