Medemia argun

Medemia argun is a native of Egypt and Sudan palm. It is the only species of the genus Medemia.

Features

Medemia argun is a moderately large, single -stemmed, tree-shaped, non-reinforced fan palm. It is dioecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( dioecious ) and repeatedly flowering. The stem is erect, up to 9 m high and tight occupied with leaf scars. The leaves are costapalmat and remain after the death of the plant ( Marzeszenz ) or fall off under its own weight. You do not Hastula. The endocarp of roundish fruit is smooth, the endosperm is furrowed ( ruminat ).

From the closely related genera to Medemia distinguished by the following combination of characters: The fruit is egg-shaped, the seed is not grooved and has a ruminates endosperm. The endocarp is winged and has a terminal pore.

The chromosome number is unknown.

Dissemination and locations

The genus is native to the south of Egypt and the North East of Sudan, where it grows in desert oases and wadis.

System

The genus Medemia is placed in the subfamily Coryphoideae, Tribe and subtribe Borasseae Hyphaeninae within the family Arecaceae. The genus is monotypic, it consists of a single type Medemia argun. Their sister group is Hyphaene.

In the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, just the way Medemia argun is recognized.

While it is a second species was described, Medemia adiadensis, which should be distinguished by smaller fruit. Your species status was since ODOARDO Beccari but denied.

History

In the past Medemia could have been used similar to the widespread genus Hyphaene. Overuse could then also explain the rarity today. The fruits are to be edible.

Subfossil fruit 3500 year old Egyptian tombs were first called Areca passalacquae, but already by Franz Unger 1859 to Medemia argun ( then called Hyphaene argun ) duly recognized.

The species was considered extinct for several decades, since it was not found after 1963. Only in 1995 palms were found in Wadi Delah in Sudan, a year later then. Well as in other places

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. 317ff.