Leucothrinax
Encyclopedia
Leucothrinax morrisii, the Key thatch palm, is a small palm
which is native to the Greater Antilles
, northern Lesser Antilles
, The Bahamas
and the Florida Keys
. Until 2008 it was known as Thrinax
morrisii. It was split from the genus Thrinax after phylogenetic studies showed that its inclusion in Thrinax would render that genus paraphyletic. The generic name combines leuco (in reference to the whitish colour of its flowering stalks and the undersides of its leaves) with thrinax.
palm with solitary brown or grey stems 1–11 m (3.3–36.1 ft) tall and 5–35 cm (2–13.8 in) in diameter. Leaves are pale blue-green or yellow-green, whitish on the undersides. Petioles are 27–84 cm (0.885826771653543–2.8 ft) long with split petiole
s. The leaflets are 33–75 cm (1.1–2.5 ft) long and 2.3–4.8 cm (0.905511811023622–1.9 in) wide. The inflorescence
s extend beyond the leaves and are 55–100 cm (1.8–3.3 ft) long. The fruit are white, and turn yellow as they mature.
genus—it includes only one species, L. morrisii. The species was originally described by German botanist Hermann Wendland
, who placed it in the genus Thrinax
.
In the first edition of Genera Palmarum (1987), Natalie Uhl and John Dransfield
placed the genus Thrinax in the subfamily Coryphoideae
, the tribe
Corypheae
and the subtribe Thrinacinae using Harold E. Moore
's 1973 classification of the palm family. Subsequent phylogenetic analysis showed that the Old World
and New World
members of the Thrinacinae were not closely related. As a consequence of this, Thrinax and related genera were places in their own tribe, Cryosophileae
A study of the phylogenetic relationships among Caribbean
palms showed that the species then known as Thrinax morrisii was most closely related to Coccothrinax
, Hemithrinax
and Zombia
, with the remainder of the genus Thinax being a sister group to this clade. Since the continued inclusion of this genus would render Thrinax paraphyletic, it was split off into a new genus, Leucothrinax.
. In Anguilla
it is called the "broom palm" or "buffalo-top", in The Bahamas
, miraguano in Cuba
and palma de escoba in Puerto Rico
. Other common names include "small-fruited thatch palm", yaray, pandereta, palma de petate, palma de cogollo, guano de sierra, and palmita.
, the Bahamas
, Cuba
, Haiti
, Puerto Rico
, Navassa Island
, Anguilla
and Barbuda
.
It is found in dry, deciduous forests
and coastal areas. In the Florida Keys it grows at the edge of hardwood hammocks and in pinelands, while in Puerto Rico it is found on cliffs and on limestone
and ultramafic ridges. It can tolerate drought
, salt spray, storms and temperatures as low as -4 C.
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...
which is native to the Greater Antilles
Greater Antilles
The Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...
, northern Lesser Antilles
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...
, The Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
and the Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
. Until 2008 it was known as Thrinax
Thrinax
Thrinax is a genus in the palm family, native to the wider Caribbean. It is closely related to the genera Coccothrinax, Hemithrinax and Zombia. Flowers are small and bisexual, and are borne on small stalks....
morrisii. It was split from the genus Thrinax after phylogenetic studies showed that its inclusion in Thrinax would render that genus paraphyletic. The generic name combines leuco (in reference to the whitish colour of its flowering stalks and the undersides of its leaves) with thrinax.
Description
Leucothrinax morrisii is a palmate-leavedFan palm
Fan palm as a descriptive term can refer to any of several different kinds of palms in various genera with leaves that are palmately compound...
palm with solitary brown or grey stems 1–11 m (3.3–36.1 ft) tall and 5–35 cm (2–13.8 in) in diameter. Leaves are pale blue-green or yellow-green, whitish on the undersides. Petioles are 27–84 cm (0.885826771653543–2.8 ft) long with split petiole
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...
s. The leaflets are 33–75 cm (1.1–2.5 ft) long and 2.3–4.8 cm (0.905511811023622–1.9 in) wide. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
s extend beyond the leaves and are 55–100 cm (1.8–3.3 ft) long. The fruit are white, and turn yellow as they mature.
Taxonomy
Leucothrinax is a monotypicMonotypic
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—it includes only one species, L. morrisii. The species was originally described by German botanist Hermann Wendland
Hermann Wendland
Hermann Wendland was a German botanist and gardener.He was a noted authority on the family Arecaceae , on which he published a major monograph which formed the basis for the modern classification of the family, including many of the generic names currently in use.The South American palm genus...
, who placed it in the genus Thrinax
Thrinax
Thrinax is a genus in the palm family, native to the wider Caribbean. It is closely related to the genera Coccothrinax, Hemithrinax and Zombia. Flowers are small and bisexual, and are borne on small stalks....
.
In the first edition of Genera Palmarum (1987), Natalie Uhl and John Dransfield
John Dransfield
John Dransfield is an honorary research fellow and former head of palm research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom, as well as being an authority on the phylogenetic classification of palms....
placed the genus Thrinax in the subfamily Coryphoideae
Coryphoideae
Coryphoideae is a subfamily of the palm tree family, Arecaceae....
, the tribe
Tribe (biology)
In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...
Corypheae
Corypheae
Corypheae is a tribe of palm trees in the subfamily Coryphoideae. The extinct palm Palaeoraphe is placed into the subtribe Livistoninae....
and the subtribe Thrinacinae using Harold E. Moore
Harold E. Moore
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...
's 1973 classification of the palm family. Subsequent phylogenetic analysis showed that the Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
and New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
members of the Thrinacinae were not closely related. As a consequence of this, Thrinax and related genera were places in their own tribe, Cryosophileae
Cryosophileae
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...
A study of the phylogenetic relationships among Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
palms showed that the species then known as Thrinax morrisii was most closely related to Coccothrinax
Coccothrinax
Coccothrinax is a genus of palms in the Arecaceae family. There are more than 50 species described in the genus, plus many synonyms and sub-species. A new species has been described as recently as 2006. Many of the Coccothrinax have silver or thatch, or both, in their English common names...
, Hemithrinax
Hemithrinax
Hemithrinax is a genus of palms which is endemic to eastern Cuba....
and Zombia
Zombia
Zombia antillarum, commonly known as the zombie palm, is a species of palm tree and the only member of the genus Zombia. It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles...
, with the remainder of the genus Thinax being a sister group to this clade. Since the continued inclusion of this genus would render Thrinax paraphyletic, it was split off into a new genus, Leucothrinax.
Common names
Leucothrinax morrisii is known as the "Key thatch palm" or the "brittle thatch palm" in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In Anguilla
Anguilla
Anguilla is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin...
it is called the "broom palm" or "buffalo-top", in The Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
, miraguano in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and palma de escoba in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. Other common names include "small-fruited thatch palm", yaray, pandereta, palma de petate, palma de cogollo, guano de sierra, and palmita.
Distribution
Leucothrinax morrisii is native to the Florida KeysFlorida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
, the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Navassa Island
Navassa Island
Navassa Island is a small, uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea, claimed as an unorganized unincorporated territory of the United States, which administers it through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Haiti, which claims to have had sovereignty over Navassa since 1801, also claims the island...
, Anguilla
Anguilla
Anguilla is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin...
and Barbuda
Barbuda
Barbuda is an island in the Eastern Caribbean, and forms part of the state of Antigua and Barbuda. It has a population of about 1,500, most of whom live in the town of Codrington.-Location:...
.
It is found in dry, deciduous forests
Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons...
and coastal areas. In the Florida Keys it grows at the edge of hardwood hammocks and in pinelands, while in Puerto Rico it is found on cliffs and on limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
and ultramafic ridges. It can tolerate drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
, salt spray, storms and temperatures as low as -4 C.