''Allagoptera'' is a

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contras ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the

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 ...

family found in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

consisting of 5 accepted

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

. Compared to other genera within the

Cocoseae Cocoseae is a tribe (biology), tribe of cocosoid palms of the family Arecaceae. Description The fruit of the Cocoseae is a modified drupe, with a sclerenchymatous epicarp and a highly developed mesocarp, formed mainly by parenchyma . The endocar ...

''Allagoptera'' is described as particularly specialized.Uhl, Natalie W. and Dransfield, John (1987) ''Genera Palmarum - A classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore''. Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press. / The genus name is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

combination of "change" and "feather", describing the full leaf; it was formerly named ''Diplothemium''.

Description

''Allagoptera'' produces very short or acaulescent trunks and in cases where the trunk grows erect it often makes a downward turn leaving the crown below the trunk-base. The trunks in ''Allagoptera'' are among the few in the palm family which tend to bifurcate, producing multiple heads per unit. The

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and ...

leaves are gently arching to 2 m and are carried on long, slender petioles which are adaxially channeled. The single-fold leaflets are regularly or irregularly arranged on the rachis each protruding into a different plane, creating a plumose leaf. The unusual spicate

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

emerges from within the leaf-crown carrying the pistilate flowers basally with the staminate flowers growing distally. The single-seeded

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

is yellow to brown, growing in crowded clusters.Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) ''An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms''. Portland: Timber Press. /

Species

Distribution and habitat

Palms in this genus are found in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, and

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 ...

growing in a variety of habitats. Some thrive in sandy beaches and dunes, while others are found in woodlands; ''Allagoptera'' species are also common along sandstone hills and in the

Cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

vegetation.

References

External links

* *
''Allagoptera'' on NPGS/GRINFairchild Guide to Palms
{{Taxonbar, from=Q141134 Attaleinae Flora of Brazil Flora of Argentina Flora of Uruguay Flora of Paraguay Arecaceae genera