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Desmoncus
''Desmoncus'' is a genus of mostly climbing, spiny palms native to the Neotropics. The genus extends from Mexico in the north to Brazil and Bolivia in the south, with two species present in the southeastern Caribbean (Trinidad and the Windward Islands).Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1–223. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Description ''Desmoncus'' is best known as a genus of climbing palms. Twenty-three of the 24 species recognised by Andrew Henderson in his revision of the genus are climbers; only one, '' D. stans'' is free-standing. Almost all Neotropical climbing palms belong to ''Desmoncus''—the one exception being '' Chamaedorea elatior''. ''Desmoncus'' leaves are pinnately compound and are made up of a leaf sheath, petioles, rachis, and individual leaflets. The ends of the leaves are modified into a climbing structure called a cirrus. Instead of leaflets, the cirrus usually has grappling hook-like struct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desmoncus Orthacanthos
''Desmoncus orthacanthos'' is a spiny, climbing palm native to tropical South America. Stems grow clustered together, and are 2–12 m long and 1.5–2 cm in diameter. Stems, leaf sheaths and often leaves are covered with black spines up to 6 cm long. ''Desmoncus orthacanthos'' is found in Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. The stems are used for basket weaving Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets .... References orthacanthos Trees of Trinidad and Tobago Trees of South America Palms of French Guiana {{tree-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bactris
''Bactris'' is a genus of spiny palms which are native to Mexico, South and Central America and the Caribbean. Most species are small trees about tall, but some are large trees while others are shrubs with subterranean stems. They have simple or pinnately compound leaves and yellow, orange, red or purple-black fruit. The genus is most closely related to several other spiny palms—''Acrocomia'', '' Aiphanes'', '' Astrocaryum'' and '' Desmoncus''. The fruit of several species is edible, most notably '' B. gasipaes'', while others are used medicinally or for construction. The ancestors of the genus are believed to have entered South America during the late Cretaceous. ''Bactris'' shows high rates of speciation. Description Both stems and leaves of ''Bactris'' species are generally covered with spines. Stems generally bear spines on the internodes; in '' B. glaucescens'' and '' B. setulosa'' spines are also present on the nodes. A few species lack spines on their stems. All spec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aiphanes
''Aiphanes'' is a genus of spiny palms which is native to tropical regions of South and Central America and the Caribbean.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families There are about 26 species in the genus (see below), ranging in size from understorey shrubs with subterranean stems to subcanopy trees as tall as . Most have pinnately compound leaves (leaves which are divided into leaflets arranged feather-like, in pairs along a central axis); one species has entire leaves. Stems, leaves and sometimes even the fruit are covered with spines. Plants flower repeatedly over the course of their lifespan and have separate male and female flowers, although these are borne together on the same inflorescence. Although records of pollinators are limited, most species appear to be pollinated by insects. The fruit are eaten by several birds and mammals, including at least two species of amazon parrots. Carl Ludwig Willdenow coined the name ''Aiphanes'' in 1801. Before that, species bel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leaf Sheath
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, flower, and fruit collectively form the shoot system. In most leaves, the primary photosynthetic tissue is the palisade mesophyll and is located on the upper side of the blade or lamina of the leaf, but in some species, including the mature foliage of ''Eucalyptus'', palisade mesophyll is present on both sides and the leaves are said to be isobilateral. The leaf is an integral part of the stem system, and most leaves are flattened and have distinct upper ( adaxial) and lower (abaxial) surfaces that differ in color, hairiness, the number of stomata (pores that intake and output gases), the amount and structure of epicuticular wax, and other features. Leaves are mostly green in color due to the presence of a compound called chlorophyll which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aiphanes Horrida
''Aiphanes horrida'' is a palm native to northern South America and Trinidad and Tobago. ''Aiphanes horrida'' is a solitary, spiny tree. In the wild it grows 3–10 metres tall (9–30 feet) tall with a stem diameter of 6–10 centimetres (2–4 inches); cultivated trees may be as much as 15 m (49') tall with a 15 cm (6") diameter. The epicarp and mesocarp of the fruit are rich in carotene and are eaten in Colombia, while the seeds are used to make candles. In parts of the Colombian Llanos, endocarps are used to play games. The range of the species is found in dry forests between sea level and 1700 m (5600') above sea level in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, but is not native to Ecuador. The species is cultivated as an ornamental throughout the tropics. Many authors, including Henderson ''et al.'' (1995) and Borchenius and Bernal (1996) use ''A. aculeata'' rather than ''A. horrida'', giving Jacquin's description of '' Caryota horri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astrocaryum
''Astrocaryum'' is a genus of about 36 to 40 species of palms native to Central and South America and Trinidad. Description ''Astrocaryum'' is a genus of spiny palms with pinnately compound leaves–rows of leaflets emerge on either side of the axis of the leaf in a feather-like or fern-like pattern. Some species are single-stemmed, while others grow in multi-stemmed (caespitose) clumps. They are pleonanthic—they flower repeatedly over the course of their lifespan—and monoecious, meaning that there are separate male and female flowers, but individuals plants bear both types of flowers. Taxonomy History The type species, ''Astrocaryum aculeatum'', was first described by German botanist Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer in 1818 based on a specimen from the Essequibo River in Guyana. Species One well known member of the genus is '' Astrocaryum vulgare'', typical in the Pará state of Brazil. '' Astrocaryum mexicanum'', a common palm of the Caribbean coast of Central America, is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acrocomia
''Acrocomia'' is a genus of palms which is native to the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico in the north, through Central America and the Caribbean, and through South America south to Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt .... Description ''Acrocomia'' is a genus of Spine (botany), spiny, pinnate-leaved palms which range from large trees to small palms with short, subterranean stems. The species bears branched inflorescences which are located among the leaves. The flowers are Plant sexuality#Individual reproductive unit (a flower in angiosperms), unisexual; female flowers are born near the base of the inflorescence, while male flowers are borne towards the tips. Fruits are large, single-seeded, and vary in colour from yellow, to orange, to brown. ''Acrocomia'' i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogeny
A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In other words, it is a branching diagram or a tree (graph theory), tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical or genetic characteristics. In evolutionary biology, all life on Earth is theoretically part of a single phylogenetic tree, indicating common ancestry. Phylogenetics is the study of phylogenetic trees. The main challenge is to find a phylogenetic tree representing optimal evolutionary ancestry between a set of species or taxa. computational phylogenetics, Computational phylogenetics (also phylogeny inference) focuses on the algorithms involved in finding optimal phylogenetic tree in the phylogenetic landscape. Phylogene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plastid
A plastid is a membrane-bound organelle found in the Cell (biology), cells of plants, algae, and some other eukaryotic organisms. Plastids are considered to be intracellular endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. Examples of plastids include chloroplasts (used for photosynthesis); chromoplasts (used for synthesis and storage of pigments); leucoplasts (non-pigmented plastids, some of which can cellular differentiation, differentiate); and apicoplasts (non-photosynthetic plastids of apicomplexa derived from secondary endosymbiosis). A permanent primary endosymbiosis event occurred about 1.5 billion years ago in the Archaeplastida cladeEmbryophyte, land plants, red algae, green algae and glaucophytesprobably with a cyanobiont, a symbiotic cyanobacteria related to the genus ''Gloeomargarita lithophora, Gloeomargarita''. Another primary endosymbiosis event occurred later, between 140 and 90 million years ago, in the photosynthetic plastids ''Paulinella'' amoeboids of the cyanobacteria genera '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
