Thrinax is a 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...

 in the palm family

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...

, native to the wider 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...

. It is closely related to the genera 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...

. Flowers are small and bisexual, and are borne on small stalks.

Thrinax consists of four species. Three of them are single-island endemics

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...

 - Thrinax ekmaniana

Thrinax ekmaniana

Thrinax ekmaniana is a palm which is endemic to Cuba. Only a single population of less than 100 mature individuals remains in the wild.It is an endemic palm of Mogotes de Jumagua in northern Cuba...

is exclusively endemic to hills Mogotes de Jumagua

Mogotes de Jumagua

The Mogotes de Jumagua are a set of 8 elevated limestone features in the Villa Clara Province of Cuba. They are located within the orographic group Heights of the Northwest in the center-north of the Island of Cuba, two kilometers south-west from the city of Sagua la Grande.They pinnacles are of...

, 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...

 while Thrinax excelsa

Thrinax excelsa

Thrinax excelsa, commonly known as broad thatch, is a species of palm which is endemic to Jamaica.-Description:Thrinax excelsa is a fan palm with solitary stems that range from tall and in diameter. Plants have between 6 and 17 palmately compound leaves with 52 to 65 leaflets. The...

and Thrinax parviflora are endemic to Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

. The fourth species, Thrinax radiata, is more widespread - it is present in 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...

, 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...

, south 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...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

.

Taxonomy

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 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 are not closely related. As a consequence of this, Thrinax and related genera have been placed 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...

. In 2008, Leucothrinax morrisii

Leucothrinax

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...

(formerly T. morrisii) was split from Thrinax after phylogenetic studies showed that its inclusion in Thrinax would render that genus paraphyletic.