Gaussia (plant)

Gaussia maya

Gaussia is an American palm genus. It is named after the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.

• 4.1 Notes and references

Features

The representatives are single -stemmed, medium to large, monoecious, non-reinforced palm with pinnate leaves. They bloom several times. The trunk brown or gray to whitish, straight or sometimes swollen at the base or in the middle. The leaf scars are clear and wide, or aunauffällig. The roots carry small spiny lateral roots that form at the base of the stem a striking structure.

The chromosome number is 2n = 28

The leaves are pinnate. The leaf sheaths are wide at the base and narrowing distally to the petiole. At maturity, they rip open relative to the petiole. The sheaths do not form a distinct crown shaft. The handle is grooved short and only slightly at the top and narrow. The rachis is rounded at the top and bottom edges clear. The leaflets are pointed and easily folded. At the point of attachment they are wide reduplicat. They are easily covered with wax. The midrib is clearly having two or more eye-catching pairs of lateral nerves.

Inflorescences

There are often several inflorescences formed simultaneously on a stem. The inflorescences are between the sheets ( interfoliar ) and are not retained for long. They fall concurrently with or shortly after they bearing sheets. An inflorescence is branched two to three times. The peduncle is long and low to high. The cover page is very short, Roehrig, flat and nearly zweikielig. It is pointed and open at the end. There are four to seven bracts on the inflorescence stalk, each one is each longer than the previous one. You are Roehrig, last reached on projects over the base of the first flower-bearing side branches. The inflorescence axis is approximately the same length as the stem. The first-order lateral axes are numerous, crowded and are arranged spirally. The blossoms trang axes ( Rachillae ) are bare, slender and bear no bracts. On them are spiral rows of flowers ( winding ). This winding consist of a proximal female flower and three to seven ( rarely two) distal male flowers. The distal flower opens first, the most he female when all male already faded. All flowers are dropped if they are not fertilized.

Flowers

The flowers are small, in the green bud stage and at flowering yellow to yellow-green.

The male flowers are in bud stage ovoid to ellipsoid. The three sepals are round and imbricat at the base. The three petals are valvat, fleshy or thin, and not clearly annoyed in the developed state. In the bud stage they are ( when dry) clearly annoyed. The six stamens have very short or even significantly developed filaments that are not inflected in the bud inside. The anthers are dorsifix, deep arrow-shaped or bilobed at the base and top slight bilobed. The stamp rudiment is as long as the stamens edgy columnar and in the bud. The pollen is ellipsoidal and slightly asymmetrical. The germ is opening a distal sulcus.

The female flowers are ovate. The three sepals are free, plump and imbricat at the base. The three petals are narrow at the base and top imbricat subvalvat to valvat. The tips protrude apart to blossom. There are six small, tooth-like staminodes. The gynoecium is angular - ovate and carries three back curved scars. It consists of three fruit trays with one ovule. The ovules sit sideways and are campylotrop.

Fruit and seeds

The fruits are ellipsoidal, spherical or kidney-shaped, and of a red or deep orange. They are fleshy and wear basal scar remains. It is smooth exocarp, mesocarp, the endocarp has to go no anastomosing fibers. The seed is ellipsoidal to reniform or nearly spherical. He is not erbunden with the endocarp and has a pedunculated or undetuliches, round basal hilum. The raphe is unremarkable, and there are few, hardly branched Raphe branches. This rise asaxial on, turn to the side and climb out from abaxial to the embryo. The endosperm is homogeneous, the embryo sitting sideways.

Dissemination and locations

Gaussia is restricted to Central America and the Caribbean. It occurs in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico before. It grows mostly on limestone hills ( mogotes ). The palm can grow from crevices in steep rock, on steep slopes or low hills. They often grow on the pyramids in Guatemala. Less commonly they are found in high forests over limestone.

System

The genus Gaussia is placed in the subfamily Arecoideae, Tribe Chamaedoreeae within the family Arecaceae. The genus is monophyletic. The phylogenetic relationships of Gaussia within the tribe are not released.

In the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the following types are recognized:

• Gaussia attenuata
• Gaussia gomez - pompae
• Gaussia maya
• Gaussia princeps
• Gaussia spirituana

Documents

• John Dransfield, Natalie W. Uhl, Conny B. Asmussen, William J. Baker, Madeline M. Harley, Carl E. Lewis: Genera palmarum. The Evolution and Classification of Palms. Second edition, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2008, ISBN 978-1-84246-182-2, pp. 381-383.