Wettinia

taxobox
name = "Wettinia"
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Monocots
unranked_ordo = Commelinids
ordo = Arecales
familia = Arecaceae
subfamilia = Arecoideae
tribus = Iriarteeae
genus = "Wettinia"
genus_authority = Poepp. ex Endl.
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = Some 20, see text
synonyms = "Acrostigma" O.F.Cook & Doyle
"Catoblastus" H.Wendl.
"Catostigma" O.F.Cook & Doyle
"Wettinella" O.F.Cook & Doyle
"Wettiniicarpus" Burret
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"Wettinia" is a palm genus, consisting of flowering plants in the Arecaceae family. The genus, established in 1837, contains some 20 species, but more seem to await discovery considering that 4 species - "W. aequatorialis", "W. lanata", "W. minima" and "W. panamensis" - were described as late as 1995. The genus is broadly divided into two groups. One group has the fruits tightly packed, while the other, formerly classified as genus "Catoblastus", has fruits scattered along the inflorescence branches. It is not known whether these groups are both monophyletic. The genus is named after Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, of the House of Wettin [Henderson "et al." (1995): p.111] .

Morphology

Palms of the genus "Wettinia" are monoecious, medium sized to large, and typically solitary-trunked. They have a low, dense cone of brown or black stilt roots, and pinnate leaves. The rope-like inflorescences of the plant emerge from leathery spathes, and grow in a circular pattern around one or more trunk rings beneath the crown shaft. They are unisexual, fleshy, and cream colored or white. The fruit is small to medium sized and elongated, green to bluish black in color. It grows either dispersed along the branches or in a tightly packed ellipsoid or sausage-like cylinder.

Distribution

Members of this genus are found throughout Central America and South America. Although none of the species are frost-tolerant, they are found primarily in cooler and higher-altitude locations, up to 2,200 m in the case of "Wettinia kalbreyeri", and are particularly prevalent along the foothills of the Andes.

pecies [Govaerts "et al." (2008)]

"Wettinia s. str." group:
* "Wettinia aequatorialis"
* "Wettinia augusta" Poepp. & Endl.
* "Wettinia castanea" H.E.Moore & J.Dransf.
* "Wettinia fascicularis"
* "Wettinia hirsuta"
* "Wettinia lanata" R.Bernal
* "Wettinia longipetala"
* "Wettinia minima"
* "Wettinia oxycarpa" Galeano-Garcés & R.Bernal
* "Wettinia panamensis" R.Bernal
* "Wettinia quinaria" (O.F.Cook & Doyle) Burret
* "Wettinia verruculosa" H.E.Moore

"Catoblastus" group:
* "Wettinia aequalis" (O.F.Cook & Doyle) R.Bernal
* "Wettinia anomala"
* "Wettinia disticha"
* "Wettinia drudei"
* "Wettinia kalbreyeri"
* "Wettinia maynensis" Spruce
* "Wettinia microcarpa" (Burret) R.Bernal
* "Wettinia praemorsa" (Willd.) Wess.Boer
* "Wettinia radiata" (O.F.Cook & Doyle) R.Bernal

Footnotes

References

* (2003): "An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms". Timber Press. [http://books.google.com/books?id=rL3dHVJ2CZ8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 HTML preview] at Google Books
* (2008): [http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?accepted_id=214627&repSynonym_id=-9998&name_id=214627&status=true "Wettinia"] . "In:" World Checklist of Arecaceae. Retrieved 2008-APR-01.
* (1995): "Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas". Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. ISBN 0-691-08537-4 [http://books.google.com/books?id=zZ2flHoGLtcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 HTML preview] at Google Books