International Palm Society

Last updated
International Palm Society
Formation1956;68 years ago (1956)
Founded at Daytona Beach, Florida, US
Type Horticultural society, 501 (c) (3) nonprofit
Location
Membership (2023)
2,000 (incl. 33 Benefactors)
President
Robert Blenker
34 (unpaid volunteers)
Affiliations32 local and regional palm societies
Endowment (2023)$939,715
Staff (2023)
1
Website www.palms.org

The International Palm Society (IPS), formerly the Palm Society, is a horticultural society dedicated to the study of palms, their culture, conservation, and natural history. It was founded in 1956, and has an international membership. [1] [2] [3] It is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. The IPS is known for its publications, grants supporting research, conservation, and education, its conservation initiatives, biennial meetings held in palm-rich localities, and its online interactive forum, PalmTalk. [4] [5]

Contents

Founder and leadership

The society was founded by Dent Smith, of Daytona Beach, Florida, who served as the society's first president and editor. [1] [6] [3] The society's first meeting was on Apr. 17, 1956, at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Smith spelled out his vision for the Palm Society in the first Palm Society Bulletin. He wrote: [7]

The objects of the Society, to be accomplished entirely by means of its publications, would be chiefly to disseminate information about the Palms, both scientific and horticultural, and about any matter or phase relating to them, e.g., their insect pests and diseases, their uses, their relative hardiness, their introduction, their availability as either small or large plants, &c.

The name of the organization changed from the Palm Society to the International Palm Society in 1984. [8]

Publications

Journal

In 1956, the society began publishing the journal, Principes, on a quarterly basis. [9] The journal was edited by Dent Smith, who by year's end recruited Dr. Harold E. Moore Jr. as the editor. [10] Moore was at that time an associate professor at the L.H. Bailey Hortorium of Cornell University. Moore edited the journal until his untimely death in 1980, after which time, the editorial reins were taken by Drs. Natalie Uhl and John Dransfield. The name of the journal changed from Principes to Palms in 1999 with the publication of volume 43. Uhl stepped down as co-editor in 2000, and the role was taken by Dr. Scott Zona. [11] In its 67th volume as of 2023, the journal is full-color, peer-reviewed, and is issued quarterly.

The Society's journal, Principes and its successor, Palms, has been the place of publication for many genera and species of palms described as new to science. Genera described in the journal include Guihaia [12] , Kerriodoxa [13] , Leucothrinax [14] , Satakentia [15] and Wodyetia [16] . Examples of noteworthy species published in the journal include Beccariophoenix alfredii [17] , Marojejya darianii [18] , and a palm with underground flowers, [19] [20] Pinanga subterranea [21] .

Books

The IPS has published or co-published several reference books related to palms. The first was a partnership with the L.H. Bailey Hortorium to co-publish the first edition of Genera Palmarum, based on the work of H.E. Moore Jr., in 1987. [22] [23]

The society published or co-published other works:

Bulletin and Newsletter

In 1956, the Palm Society, as the IPS was then known, published monthly Bulletins, which were sent to members. Only six Bulletins were published before they were superseded by the journal. [7] In late 2013, the IPS launched a monthly electronic Newsletter. [27]

Grants

Since its inception in 1985, the IPS endowment has funded palm research all over the world via the IPS Endowment Awards.

Recently published research that was supported, in part, by grants from the IPS includes:

Additionally, the annual Sneed Award supports a project that best emulates the curious spirit of Phyllis and Melvin Sneed. The Sneeds were long-time IPS members who traveled the world in search of palms [33] and wrote about their adventures in the pages of Principes.

Conservation initiatives

In 2006, a photo of an unidentified, large, monocarpic, fan palm in Madagascar was posted on PalmTalk, the society's online forum. [34] This photo led botanists to the site and to the discovery and description of a monotypic genus new to science, Tahina, which was published in 2008. [35]

In 2020, the IPS launched its annual Save the Species campaign to raise awareness and funding for targeted palm conservation projects around the world. Save the Species target projects have included: [36]

In 2023, the IPS announced International Palm Day to be observed annually on April 17, the birthday of the "Father of Palms," Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius. The stated purpose of International Palm Day is "to achieve global recognition for not only palm species in jeopardy but also the fragility of palm habitats worldwide." [39]

Biennial meetings

The first meeting of the membership of the Palm Society was held at Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami, Florida, on April 17 & 18, 1958. [40] Over one hundred members were in attendance. In addition to electing officers and directors, the members were treated to an illustrated lecture "Palms through a Botanist's Eye" by President-elect Dr. Walter H. Hodge. The first biennial held outside of the USA was in June 1972, in Mexico City, Mexico. [41]

Forum

PalmTalk is the popular interactive forum provided by the IPS on which users can post photos and discussions on palm-related topics. The forum has over 1 million posts and 19,645 members. [42]

Images

Related Research Articles

<i>Coccothrinax</i> Genus of palms

Coccothrinax is a genus of palms in the family Arecaceae. There are more than 50 species described in the genus, plus many synonyms and subspecies. A new species was described as recently as 2017. Many Coccothrinax produce thatch. In Spanish-speaking countries, guano is a common name applied to Coccothrinax palms. The species are native throughout the Caribbean, the Bahamas, extreme southern Florida and southeastern Mexico, but most of the species are known only from Cuba.

<i>Thrinax</i> Genus of palms

Thrinax is a genus in the palm family, native to the Caribbean. It is closely related to the genera Coccothrinax, Hemithrinax and Zombia. Flowers are small, bisexual and are borne on small stalks.

<i>Chelyocarpus</i> Genus of palms

Chelyocarpus is a genus of small to medium-sized fan palms which are native to northwestern South America. Some are upright trees, while others creep along the ground. Species are used for thatch, to weave hats, stuff pillows and as a source of salt.

<i>Itaya</i> Species of plant

Itaya amicorum is a medium-size fan palm that is native to Brazil, Colombia and Peru. It is the only species in the genus Itaya. It was unknown to science until 1972, when it was discovered on the bank of the Itaya River in the Peruvian Amazon.

<i>Tahina spectabilis</i> Species of palm

Tahina spectabilis, the tahina palm, also called blessed palm or dimaka is a species of gigantic palm that is found only in the Analalava District of northwestern Madagascar where its range is only twelve acres, one of the most extreme examples of endemism known. It can grow 18 m (59 ft) tall and has palmate leaves over 5 m (16 ft) across. The trunk is up to 20 in (51 cm) thick, and sculpted with conspicuous leaf scars. An individual tree was discovered when in flower in 2007; it was first described the following year as a result of photographs being sent to Kew Gardens in the United Kingdom for identification. The palm is thought to live for up to fifty years before producing an enormous inflorescence up to 19.5 ft (5.9 m) in height and width, surpassed in size only by Corypha spp. and by Metroxylon salomonense and, being monocarpic, subsequently dying. The inflorescence, a panicle, consists of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of three-flowered clusters which bloom in three consecutive, synchronized "cohorts" or flushes of bloom. The nearest equivalent pattern of flowering is in the flowering vine Bougainvillea where the three flowers bloom sequentially, but not synchronized. Fewer than one hundred adult individuals of the species are thought to exist and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as "critically endangered".

<i>Kerriodoxa</i> Genus of palms

Kerriodoxa elegans, the white backed palm, is the only species of palm tree in the genus Kerriodoxa, in the family Arecaceae.

Harold Emery Moore, Jr. was an American botanist especially known for his work on the systematics of the palm family. He served as Director of the L. H. Bailey Hortorium at Cornell University, and was appointed Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Botany in 1978. He was an important contributor to Hortus Third and was editor of Principes, the journal of the International Palm Society. He also edited Gentes Herbarum and provided the foundation for the first edition of Genera Palmarum, a seminal work on palm taxonomy which was later completed by Natalie Uhl and John Dransfield.

<i>Leucothrinax</i> Genus of palms

Leucothrinax morrisii, the Key thatch palm, is a small palm which is native to the Greater Antilles, northern Lesser Antilles, The Bahamas and Florida and the Florida Keys in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coryphoideae</span> Subfamily of palms

The Coryphoideae is one of five subfamilies in the palm family, Arecaceae. It contains all of the genera with palmate leaves, excepting Mauritia, Mauritiella and Lepidocaryum, all of subfamily Calamoideae, tribe Lepidocaryeae, subtribe Mauritiinae. However, all Coryphoid palm leaves have induplicate (V-shaped) leaf folds, while Calamoid palms have reduplicate leaf folds. Pinnate leaves do occur in Coryphoideae, in Phoenix, Arenga, Wallichia and bipinnate in Caryota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cryosophileae</span> Tribe of palms

Cryosophileae is a tribe of palms in the subfamily Coryphoideae. The tribe ranges from southern South America, through Central America, into Mexico and the Caribbean. It includes New World genera formerly included in the tribe Thrinacinae, which was split after molecular phylogenetic studies showed that Old World and New World members of the tribe were not closely related.

John Dransfield is former head of palm research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cocoseae</span> Tribe of palms

Cocoseae is a tribe of cocosoid palms of the family Arecaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caryoteae</span> Tribe of plants

Caryoteae is a tribe in the palm family Arecaceae, distributed across Southeast Asia, from southern India and Sri Lanka east to Vanuatu and northernmost Queensland, Australia. It was long considered a member of subfamily Arecoideae on the basis of its inflorescences, which resemble those of tribe Iriarteeae, and the flowers arranged in triads, which are common across Arecoideae. However, phylogenetic studies based on DNA repeatedly link Caryoteae to subfamily Coryphoideae. Caryoteae do have leaves with induplicate folds, a feature found in most Coryphoid palms, but unlike most Coryphoideae, the leaves are pinnate or bipinnate (Caryota). Phoenix is the only other Coryphoid genus with induplicate, pinnate leaves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borasseae</span> Tribe of palms

Borasseae is a tribe in the palm subfamily Coryphoideae. The tribe ranges from southern Africa and Madagascar north through the Arabian Peninsula to India, Indochina, Indonesia and New Guinea. Several genera are restricted to islands in the Indian Ocean. The two largest genera, Hyphaene and Borassus, are also the most widespread.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuniophoeniceae</span> Tribe of palms

Chuniophoeniceae is a tribe of palms in subfamily Coryphoideae of plant family Arecaceae. The four genera within the tribe are morphologically dissimilar and do not have overlapping distributions. Three of the genera are monotypic, while the fourth genus (Chuniophoenix) has three species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trachycarpeae</span> Tribe of palms

Trachycarpeae is a tribe of palms in subfamily Coryphoideae of the plant family Arecaceae. It has the widest distribution of any tribe in Coryphoideae and is found on all continents, though the greatest concentration of species is in Southeast Asia. Trachycarpeae includes palms from both tropical and subtropical zones; the northernmost naturally-occurring palm is a member of this tribe. Several genera can be found in cultivation in temperate areas, for example species of Trachycarpus, Chamaerops, Rhapidophyllum and Washingtonia.

Natalie Whitford Uhl (1919–2017) was an American botanist who specialised in palms.

Lepidocaryeae is a tribe of plants in the family Arecaceae. Subtribes and genera in the tribe are:

<i>Genera Palmarum</i>

Genera Palmarum is a botany reference book that gives a detailed overview of the systematic biology of the palm family (Arecaceae). The first edition of Genera Palmarum was published in 1987. The second edition was published in 2008, with a reprint published in 2014. Genera Palmarum is currently the most detailed monograph on palm taxonomy and systematics.

References

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  14. "Leucothrinax | International Plant Names Index". www.ipni.org.
  15. "Satakentia | International Plant Names Index". www.ipni.org.
  16. "Wodyetia | International Plant Names Index". www.ipni.org.
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