Latania

Latania lontaroides

Latania is a native to the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean Palm genus.

Features

The representatives are moderately large, single -stemmed, tree-shaped fan palms. They are usually unarmed. They are dioecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( dioecious ) and repeatedly flowering. The stem is erect, rough and bears elliptical leaf scars. The leaves are costapalmat, folded induplicat (V- shaped). In young palms the dead leaves remain on the plant ( Marzeszenz ), in older specimens with trained master fall off the leaves and leave a clean scar.

From the closely related genera to Latania distinguished by the following combination of characters: The male flowers appear singly or in slabs for two to six. The bracts of the male inflorescences are fused at the edges. The stamp rudiment is formed columnar and clear. The stone core is not hairy, thin, ridged and sculpted. The seed is not furrowed.

The chromosome number is 2n = 28

Dissemination and locations

The genus is found only on the Mascarene Islands. In the past, the palm trees were frequent and grew on the coastal rocks, in the savannas and canyons. Today they are almost extinct in their natural habitat, but are common in cultivated botanical gardens, where the species but often hybridize.

System

The genus Latania is placed in the subfamily Coryphoideae, Tribe and subtribe Borasseae Lataniinae within the family Arecaceae. The genus is monophyletic. Their sister group is the group of Lodoicea, Borassus and Borassodendron.

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

• Latania loddigesii
• Latania lontaroides, endemic to Réunion
• Latania verschaffeltii, endemic to Rodrigues

Type species is Latania borbonica Lam. Whose valid name today Latania lontaroides ( Gaertn. ) HEMoore is.

The name is a Latinisation of the word Latanier who serves in the French as the common name for various species of palm trees and in the case Lattanier the first time in 1645 in a book on the West Indies ( Guillaume de Coppier: Histoire et Voyage des Indes occidentales et Autres pays éloignés ) is occupied; etymologically it may possibly on the name of a species of palm ( alattani, alátani ) are returned in an indigenous language of the Caribbean. Another hypothesis brings the word with the Malay Lontar for Palm in conjunction.

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. 320ff.