Welfia

Welfia regia

Welfia regia is native to Central and South America palm and the sole representative of the genus Welfia. She is excessively large and fiederblättrig. Characteristic features are the strong flower-bearing axes with deep pits where are the flowers, the male flowers with numerous stamens and the zweikieligen fruit.

• 4.1 Notes and references

Features

The representatives are moderately large, single -stemmed and non-reinforced palms. They are several times flourishing and monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). The stem is erect. The leaf scars are conspicuous, broad and rather removes standing. The upper part of the trunk is orange to brown.

The chromosome number is unknown.

The leaves are large and remain long after the death of the plant ( Marzeszenz ). The leaves are regularly pinnate, more or less standing upright and bent at the top, so that a feather duster -like crown. The leaf sheath breaks early on against the petiole, also it makes no crown shaft. The abaxial side is thick, slightly ribbed and densely hairy. The edges are divided into large fibers. The petiole is short, deeply grooved adaxially, rounded abaxially and densely hairy. The rachis is much longer than the stem, adaxially flattened, furrowed sides and rounded abaxially.

The leaflets are almost constantly against and are broadly lanceolate and hanging. They are simply folded, glabrous and dark at the bottom. The top is hairy pale and thick. A midrib is not recognizable. There are eight or more nearly equal, quite a long leaf veins are more prominent at the bottom.

Inflorescences

The inflorescences are as buds between leaves ( interfoliar ) and are upright. Later, they come under the leaves ( infrafoliar ) stand out and are hanging. They are one- to two-fold branched and protandrous. The peduncle is short, squat and bent back. The cover page is Roehrig, flat, wide and woody. It is abaxial deeply grooved and hairy. The edges have wide flat keels. It is a complete bract on peduncle available. It is similar to the previous sheet, but is shorter, thinner, and leathery. The following bracts are numerous, short, stiff, plump and sit in a spiral arrangement. The inflorescence axis is short, about the same as the stem and contributes in a spiral arrangement of small, rounded or pointed, oval bracts, in the axils, the flower-bearing axes ( Rachillae ) are. The Rachillae are stocky and carry eight rows of partly sunken, rigid, oval bracts, in their armpits in turn are the flowers in triads pits.

Flowers

The male flowers are sitting and standing in the flowers pit compared to the female flower on the outside. The three sepals are chaff-like, basal interconnected short, narrow and keeled. The three petals are oblong, adherent and adherent to around one-third of its length with the receptaculum. The free tip are boat-shaped, valvat and chaff-like. The usually 36 (rarely 27 to 42 ) stamens are in antesepalen and antepetalen groups. The filaments are short and wide. The connective has a pointed end. The anthers are linear to an arrow shape, and basifix intrors. The stamp rudiment consists of three small tubercles or missing entirely. The pollen is asymmetrical ellipsoidal or pear-shaped. The germ is opening a distal sulcus. The longest axis measures 25 to 45 microns.

The female flower is round and pointed as a bud. The three sepals are free, narrow, overlapping and keeled. The three petals are fused to two -thirds or more of their length into a tube. The free tip are triangular and valvat. The numerous staminodes (15-16) are fused to two thirds of its length to the corolla tube, the free part is ahlförmig or linear - triangular. The gynoecium is dreifächrig with one ovule. It is triangular with the adaxial side is longer. The style is long, cylindrical and bears three recurved scars. The ovules are sitting in the center of the fan and are anatrop.

Fruit and seeds

The fruit is almond shaped, slightly flattened dorsiventral, furrowed sides and wearing a short, apical tip. The color is a dull purple. The scar remains and the sterile carpels are basally. The exocarp is smooth and shiny. The mesocarp has slender, parallel fibers, the endocarp is thin crust and shaped.

The seed is purple, ellipsoid, apically rounded and matured with a white, sweet-tasting, slimy substance covered. The navel ( hilum ) is on the side of the base. The raphe orbiting the seeds with short basal and apical branches. The endosperm is homogeneous.

Dissemination and locations

The circulation area ranges from Honduras to western and eastern Colombia and Ecuador to. Welfia regia comes from lowlands to heights of 2000 m in the Andes before and grows in dense rainforest.

System

Welfia is classified within the palm family ( Arecaceae ) in the subfamily Arecoideae, Tribe Geonomateae. Phylogenetic relationships within the tribe are still unclear.

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

The genus was first described by Hermann Wendland 1869 type species is Welfia regia H.Wend. ex André. The genus is named after the Guelph dynasty.

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. 470-472.