''Livistona'' is a genus of

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

s, the botanical family

Arecaceae The Arecaceae () is a family (biology), family of perennial plant, perennial, flowering plants in the Monocotyledon, monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbing palm, climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly k ...

, native to southeastern and

eastern Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan ...

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

, and the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

. They are fan palms, the

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

with an armed petiole terminating in a rounded, costapalmate fan of numerous leaflets. '' L. speciosa'', locally called ''kho'', gives its name to Khao Kho District in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Taxonomy

The genus was established by

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

in his ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a book by the botanist Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and ...

'' (1810) to accommodate his descriptions of two species collected during an expedition to Australia. The names published by Brown were '' Livistona humilis'' and '' L. inermis'', describing material he had collected in the north of Australia, a partial taxonomic revision in 1963 nominated the first of these as the

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes ...

. His collaborator Ferdinand Bauer, the botanist and master illustrator, produced artworks to accompany Brown's descriptions, but these were not published until 1838. In 1983 a species of palm from

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

was formally transferred to the genus by John Dransfield and Natalie Whitford Uhl. The Australian members of the genus were subjected to a taxonomic revision by Tony Rodd in 1998. Rodd added five new Australian species, increasing the size of the genus. Another species was described from Vietnam in 2000. In 2009

John Leslie Dowe John Leslie Dowe is an Australian botanistIPNI: John Leslie Dowe
''The Interna ...

published the latest

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

on the genus. Along with the Indonesian botanist Johanis P. Mogea and Anders Sánchez Barfod from Denmark, he had described five new species in the previous years, further swelling the genus. For much of the history of the genus, the species of the genus '' Saribus'' were classified within the genus ''Livistona''.

Phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

studies using

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

comparisons of numerous species in the different genera in the Trachycarpeae tribe of palms, however, found that the species from the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and other surrounding regions were more closely related to '' Pholidocarpus'', '' Licuala'' and '' Johannesteijsmannia'' than they were to ''Livistona'', which advocated separating the two groups taxonomically. The genus was thus revised again by Christine D. Bacon and William J. Baker in 2011, with ''Saribus'' split off and combined with '' Pritchardiopsis jeanneneyi'', decreasing the genus again.

Etymology

Robert Brown named the genus ''Livistona'' after Patrick Murray (1634–1671), Baron of Livingston, a botanist and horticulturist, who was largely responsible for establishing the botanical gardens in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Brown's praise for the early horticulturist begins, "''… in memoriam viri nobilis Patricii Murray Baronis de Livistone,''", and the Latinised name of the genus is evidently derived from the name of the family's seat.

Distribution

The genus has a

disjunct distribution In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...

, which is split into three contiguous areas. The range of '' Livistona carinensis'' in Africa is very far away from that of the other species in the genus. In 1983 John Dransfield and Natalie Whitford Uhl first suggested that this odd pattern was due to a formerly much more extensive distribution during the warmer and moister climate of the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

, including areas between it and the rest, but that prehistoric

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

split them. Later DNA evidence of a mass of ancient extinctions between ''L. carinensis'' and the rest is thought to corroborate the theory. The recognition of ''Saribus'' has split the remaining distribution into a group of species found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and southern

, and another group of species in

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Species

The classification of the genus has been the subject of a number of recent revisions which have reduced the number of species since the 2009 monograph. The following is an uncritical list of species: * '' Livistona alfredii'' F.Muell. -

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

* '' Livistona australis'' ( R.Br.)

Mart. Carl Friedrich Philipp (Karl Friedrich Philipp) von Martius (17 April 1794 – 13 December 1868) was a German botany, botanist and explorer. Between 1817 and 1820, he travelled 10,000 km through Brazil while collecting botanical specimens. His m ...

– Cabbage-tree palm - Australia:

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Victoria * '' Livistona benthamii'' F.M.Bailey - Australia: Queensland,

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

;

* '' Livistona boninensis'' ( Becc.) Nakai -

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a list of islands of Japan, Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and Island#Tropical islands, tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total ...

* '' Livistona carinensis'' ( Chiov.) J.Dransf. & N.W.Uhl -

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

* '' Livistona chinensis'' ( Jacq.) R.Br. ex

– Chinese fan palm -

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

: South and

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

; naturalized in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

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Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, and various island in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

* '' Livistona concinna'' Dowe & Barfod - Australia: Queensland * '' Livistona decora'' ( W.Bull) Dowe - Australia: Queensland * '' Livistona drudei'' F.Muell. ex Drude - Australia: Queensland * '' Livistona eastonii'' C.A.Gardner, known as darngarna on the Mitchell Plateau - Australia: Western Australia * '' Livistona endauensis'' J.Dransf. & K.M.Wong -

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

* '' Livistona exigua'' J.Dransf. -

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

* '' Livistona fulva'' Rodd - Australia: Queensland * '' Livistona halongensis'' T.H.Nguyên & Kiew -

Ha Long Bay Ha may refer to: Agencies and organizations * Health authority, a former type of administrative organisation of the NHS in England and Wales * Hells Angels Motorcycle Club * Highways Agency (renamed ''Highways England'', now ''National Highways'' ...

Islands in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

* '' Livistona humilis'' R.Br. - Australia: Northern Territory * '' Livistona inermis'' R.Br. - Australia: Northern Territory, Queensland * '' Livistona jenkinsiana'' Griff. -

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

;

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, Thailand, China:

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

* '' Livistona lanuginosa'' Rodd - Australia: Queensland * '' Livistona lorophylla'' Becc.. - Australia: Northern Territory, Western Australia * '' Livistona mariae'' F.Muell. – three subspecies Australia: Northern Territory, Queensland * '' Livistona muelleri'' F.M.Bailey - Australia: Queensland; New Guinea * '' Livistona nasmophila'' Dowe & D.L.Jones - Australia: Western Australia * '' Livistona nitida'' Rodd – Carnarvon Fan Palm - Australia: Queensland * '' Livistona saribus'' ( Lour.) Merr. ex A. Chev. -

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

, Java,

; naturalized in

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

, China: Guangdong, Yunnan * '' Livistona speciosa'' Kurz - Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia,

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, southern China * '' Livistona tahanensis'' Becc. -

Pahang {{Infobox political division , name = Pahang , official_name = Pahang Darul Makmur , native_name = , settlement_type = States and federal territories of Malaysia, State , image_skyline = , imagesize ...

in Malaysia * '' Livistona victoriae'' Rodd - Australia: Western Australia, Northern Territory Livistona humilis Bauer in Martius Historia naturalis palmarum plate 110

Livistona humilis Bauer in Martius Historia naturalis palmarum plate 110

;Formerly placed here * '' Pholidocarpus kingianus'' ( Becc.) Ridl. (''Livistona kingiana'') * '' Pritchardia gaudichaudii'' (

) H.Wendl. (''Livistona gaudichaudii'') * '' Pritchardia martii'' ( Gaudich.) H.Wendl. (''Livistona martii'') * '' Saribus brevifolius'' (Dowe & Mogea) C.D.Bacon & W.J.Baker - (''Livistona brevifolia'') * '' Saribus chocolatinus'' (Dowe) C.D.Bacon & W.J.Baker - (''Livistona chocolatina'') * '' Saribus merrillii'' ( Becc.) C.D.Bacon & W.J.Baker - (''Livistona merrillii'', ''L. whitfordii'', ''L. blancoi'') * '' Saribus papuanus'' ( Becc.) Kuntze - (''Livistona papuana'') * ''

Saribus rotundifolius ''Saribus rotundifolius'', also known as the footstool palm, is a common fan palm found in Southeast Asia. It is a member of the genus '' Saribus''. Common names It is called ''anáhaw'' or ''luyong'' in Filipino. In Malay the palm is known a ...

'' ( Lam.) Blume (''Livistona rotundifolia'', ''L. altissima, ''L. microcarpa, ''L. mindorensis'') * '' Saribus surru'' ( Dowe & Barfod) C.D.Bacon & W.J.Baker - (''Livistona surru'') * '' Saribus tothur'' (Dowe & Barfod) C.D.Bacon & W.J.Baker - (''Livistona tothur'') * '' Saribus woodfordii'' ( Ridl.) C.D.Bacon & W.J.Baker - (''Livistona woodfordii'', ''L. beccariana'')

Ecology

''Livistona'' species are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

species. In Australia, the species '' Cephrenes trichopepla'' and ''C. augiades sperthias'' have been recorded on a number of different ''Livistona'' species. In Asia, '' Elymnias hypermnestra'' and likely '' Gangara thyrsis'' feed on ''Livistona''. A number of other Lepidoptera which do not naturally occur to the native range of the genus ''Livistona'' have been recorded feeding on these palms, including '' Batrachedra arenosella'' (recorded on ''L. subglobosa''), ''Brassolis astyra astyra'', '' Opsiphanes cassina'', ''O. invirae'' and '' Paysandisia archon''. ''P. archon'' is a giant day-flying moth of which the caterpillars known to attack the piths of a number of these palm species, along with many other genera, at least in Europe, where neither the moth nor palms are native. It can kill the palm. It prefers genera of palm with more hairy trunks like ''

Trachycarpus ''Trachycarpus'' is a genus of ten species of Arecaceae, palms native to Asia, from the Himalaya east to eastern China. They are fan palms (subfamily Coryphoideae), with the leaf, leaves with a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerou ...

'', '' Trithrinax'' or ''

Chamaerops ''Chamaerops'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Arecaceae. It contains only one species, ''Chamaerops humilis'', variously called European fan palm or the Mediterranean dwarf palm. It is one of the most cold-hardy palms and is use ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Arecaceae genera