Adonidia
Encyclopedia
Adonidia is a monotypic
genus
of flowering plant
s in the Arecaceae
family. It consists of one species, the Manila Palm (Adonidia merrillii, synonyms : Normanbya merrillii Becc. and Veitchia merrillii(Becc.) H.E.Moore). It is commonly known as the "Christmas Palm" because its fruits become bright scarlet and tend to be that color in winter. This palm is typically fairly small and slender, normally attaining 15-25 feet in height but has attained 36 feet grown in greenhouse conditions.
Some palms sold in retail outlets as "adonidia" are in fact Alexander palms
, which are similar but even thinner.
It is found naturally growing only in the Philippines
.
It is threatened by habitat loss.
On the other hand, it is widely planted in cultivation and grows well in tropical locations such as Hawaii
and the southern half of the Florida
peninsula.
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s in the Arecaceae
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
family. It consists of one species, the Manila Palm (Adonidia merrillii, synonyms : Normanbya merrillii Becc. and Veitchia merrillii(Becc.) H.E.Moore). It is commonly known as the "Christmas Palm" because its fruits become bright scarlet and tend to be that color in winter. This palm is typically fairly small and slender, normally attaining 15-25 feet in height but has attained 36 feet grown in greenhouse conditions.
Some palms sold in retail outlets as "adonidia" are in fact Alexander palms
Ptychosperma elegans
Ptychosperma elegans, also known as the "Solitaire palm" and the "Alexander palm," is a very slender palm common to Florida but native to Australia. It is sometimes confused with Archontophoenix alexandrae which is a much larger palm but appears similar in the immature form...
, which are similar but even thinner.
It is found naturally growing only in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
It is threatened by habitat loss.
On the other hand, it is widely planted in cultivation and grows well in tropical locations such as Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and the southern half of the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
peninsula.
Source
- Johnson, D. 1998. Adonidia merrillii. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 20 July 2007.