Metroxylon

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For the other plant known as sago palm, see Cycas revoluta .

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Metroxylon
Sago (Metroxylon sagu) in New Guinea.jpg
Metroxylon sagu
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Subfamily: Calamoideae
Tribe: Calameae
Genus: Metroxylon
Rottb. [1]
Species [2]
Synonyms [3]

Metroxylon is a genus of monoecious flowering plants in the Arecaceae (palm) family, and commonly called the sago palms consisting of seven species. They are native to Western Samoa, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Moluccas, the Carolines and Fiji in a variety of habitats, and cultivated westward to Thailand and Malaya. [3]

The name is a combination of two Greek words: metra meaning "womb", commonly translated as "heart" in this context, and xylon meaning "wood", in allusion to the large proportion of pith contained in the plant.

Description

The trunks of Metroxylon species are solitary or clumped and large to massive in size, and usually sprout aerial roots at leaf-scar rings. All but one is monocarpic (hapaxanthic), foliage is pinnate with oversized petioles and leaf sheaths. The petioles are distinguished by "groups of small black spines resembling the record made by a seismograph as it registers a mild tremor". [4] All species have spines on the rachis and petiole. The monocarpic species present a Christmas tree shaped inflorescence, or instead, upward-reaching branches spreading horizontally. These panicles are second only to Corypha spp in size, in the case of Metroxylon salomonense growing up to thirty feet (nine meters) in height by up to fifteen feet (4.5 meters) in width. [5] The fruit, covered in tough shiny scales arranged in precise rows, are relatively large for palms and contain one seed. [4]

Extant species

It contains the following species [6] [7] [3] [2]

ImageNameCommon nameDistribution
Metroxylon amicarum - Keanae Arboretum, Maui, Hawaii by Forest and Kim Starr.jpg Metroxylon amicarum (H.Wendl.) Hook.f. Caroline ivory-nut palm Pohnpei, Chuuk
Metroxylon paulcoxii McClatchey Samoa
Metrox sagu 071124 1516 stbu.jpg Metroxylon sagu Rottb. Sago palm New Guinea, Maluku
Metroxylon salomonense (Warb.) Becc. Solomon palmNew Guinea, Maluku, Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, Vanuatu
Metroxylon upoluense Becc. Samoa
Metroxylon vitiense.jpg Metroxylon vitiense (H.Wendl.) Hook.f. Fiji sago palm Wallis and Futuna, Fiji
Rumbia-fruit-763034.jpg Metroxylon warburgii (Heimerl) Becc. natangura palm [8] Santa Cruz Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu

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<i>Metroxylon warburgii</i> Species of palm

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<i>Caryota urens</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Ammandra</i> Genus of palms

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<i>Dictyocaryum</i> Genus of palms

Dictyocaryum is a monoecious genus of flowering plant in the palm family found in South America. It is closely related to the genus Iriartea; they are commonly called araque or palma real. As many as eleven species have been described but this number is reduced to three in most current accounts. The genus name translates from two Greek words meaning "net" and "nut", describing the thick network of raphe fibers around the seed.

<i>Dictyosperma</i> Genus of palms

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<i>Eleiodoxa</i> Genus of palms

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Eremospatha is a genus of climbing flowering plants in the palm family found in tropical Africa. These rattans are uncommon in cultivation and poorly understood by taxonomists. Closely related to Laccosperma, they are differentiated by the near complete absence of bracts and bracteoles. The name is from Greek meaning "without a spathe".

<i>Eugeissona</i> Genus of palms from Southeast Asia

Eugeissona is a clustering genus of flowering plant in the palm family native to Borneo, Thailand and Malaysia. The six monoecious species provide a wide range of local uses and are commonly called bertam or wild Bornean sago. The genus is the sole representative of the Eugeissoninae having very few obvious relatives; the hermaphrodite and staminate flowers are also found in Metroxylon, however the other specialized characteristics are unique suggesting an early split and differentiation from other members of the Calameae. Fossilized pollen belonging to these plants has been recovered in the lower and middle Miocene deposits in Sarawak. The name is from two Greek words meaning "good" and "roof", due to their common use in roof thatching.

<i>Laccospadix</i> Genus of palms

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<i>Laccosperma</i> Genus of palms from Africa

Laccosperma is a clustering genus of flowering plant in the family palm found in tropical Africa. Poorly studied and rarely cultivated, they are closely related to the genus Eremospatha and with it form a tribe in the Calameae characterized by dyads of hermaphrodite flowers. The genus name combines the Greek words for "reservoir" and "seed".

<i>Lepidocaryum</i> Genus of palms

Lepidocaryum is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family from South America where the lone species, Lepidocaryum tenue, is commonly called poktamui. Nine species names have been published, but palm taxonomists currently agree that just one variable species includes them all. The most reduced member of the Lepidocaryeae, it is similar in appearance to three closely related genera, Mauritia, Mauritiella, and Lytocaryum. The genus name combines the Greek words for "scale" and "nut" and the species epithet is Latin for "thin".

<i>Myrialepis</i> Genus of palms

Myrialepis is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family. The single species, Myrialepis paradoxa, is native to Southeast Asia. The genus name is a combination of the Greek words meaning "innumerable" and "scale", a description of the fruit, and the epithet is Latin for "paradox".

<i>Metroxylon vitiense</i> Species of palm

Metroxylon vitiense is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae, endemic to the islands of Fiji, Ovalau, and Vanua Levu in Fiji. There is only one confirmed occurrence of M. vitiense on Vanua Levu, just outside Savusavu. Despite it being considered a threatened species by the IUCN, as of February 2013 M. vitiense was still unprotected by Fijian regulations and international legislation. It has also been reported from the nearby islands of Wallis and Futuna.

References

  1. Rottboell, Nye Samling af det Kongelige Danske Videnskabers Selskabs Skrifter 2:257. 1783 (conserved name) Type:M. sagu
  2. 1 2 The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=metroxylon (accessed 11 September 2017).
  3. 1 2 3 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  4. 1 2 Riffle, R. L. and Craft, P. (2003). An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. Portland: Timber Press. ISBN   0-88192-558-6 / ISBN   978-0-88192-558-6 (page 389)
  5. Corner, Prof. E.J.H. (1966). Natural History of Palms. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 316–317.
  6. WCSP, World Checklist of Arecaceae: Metroxylon Archived 2007-08-08 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Metroxylon species (Sago palm)" (PDF).
  8. Sentance, Bryan; Sentance, Polly (2009). "2 Central and South America". Craft Traditions of the World: Locally Made, Globally Inspiring. London, UK: Thames & Hudson. pp. 72–73. ISBN   9780500514665. OCLC   317919883.