Welfia regia
| Welfia regia | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Welfia regia |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Welfia regia | ||||||||||||
| H. Wendl. ex André |
Welfia regia is a species of palm native to Central and South America. It is moderately large and pinnate. Characteristic are the strong flower-bearing axes with deep pits in which the flowers stand, the male flowers with numerous stamens , and the two-keeled fruits.
features
.jpg)
Welfia regia is a moderately large, single-stemmed and unreinforced palm species. It blooms several times and is single-sexed ( monoecious ). The trunk is upright. The leaf scars are conspicuous, wide and rather distant. The upper part of the trunk is orange to brown.
The palms reach heights of 6 to 25 m, with the trunk 4.4 to 22.5 m high and a diameter of 10 to 25 cm. The crown consists of around 17 (9 to 24) leaves per stem. The leaf sheaths are around 100 (23 to 165) cm long, the leaf stalks are rather short. The rhachis is on average 440 (279 to 540) cm long. On each leaf side there are 73 (33 to 90) leaflets on average.
The cover sheet of the inflorescence is on average 103.3 (97 to 113) cm long. The bracts on the peduncle are around 94.8 (80 to 105) cm long and around 2.4 (1.5–4.5) cm above the cover sheet. The inflorescence stalk is 16.1 (8 to 30) cm long and 44.9 (27.6 to 59.1) mm in diameter. There are on average 9 (7 to 15) rachillae, these are 71.2 (46.5 to 110) cm long and 21.9 (12.2 to 31.9) mm in diameter. The male flowers have an average of 38 (33 to 43) stamens .
The fruits are almond-shaped and dorsiventrally compressed. They are furrowed on the sides, especially towards the tip. The end is pointed. The base is not contracted. The fruit is on average 34.2 (28.6 to 40.8) mm long and has a diameter of 15.2 (10.8 to 18.2) mm in diameter.
Distribution and locations
The distribution area includes Nicaragua , Costa Rica , Panama , western Colombia and western Ecuador . Occurrences in Honduras are not certain. Welfia regia grows from the lowlands to heights of 1325 m in lowland and mountain rainforest.
Systematics
Welfia regia was first described by Hermann Wendland in 1869 , but without a description of the species or reference to a specimen. Only Andre gave a description and illustration of the species in 1871.
Welfia georgii Wendland is a synonym of Welfia regia . Since the description in 1869 it has been regarded as a separate species, only Henderson sank it in 1995 in the synonymy of Welfia regia . This was confirmed by the analyzes by Henderson and Villalba in 2013.
Individual evidence
- ^ 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. 470-472.
- ↑ a b c d e f Andrew Henderson, Isabel Villalba: A revision of Welfia (Arecaceae) . Phytotaxa, Volume 119, 2013, pp. 33-44. doi: 10.11646 / phytotaxa.119.1.3
