''Geonoma'' is a

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 ...

of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest

understorey In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but above ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

. Its 64

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), ...

are distributed from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

in the north to

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 ...

in the south; two are found in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

Uses

In South America, the leaves of species such as ''

Geonoma deversa ''Geonoma'' is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the Neotropics. Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the ...

'', ''

Geonoma orbignyana ''Geonoma'' is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the Neotropics. Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the ...

'', and ''

Geonoma macrostachys ''Geonoma'' is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the Neotropics. Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the ...

'' are economically important for their use in thatching roofs.

Taxonomy

The genus is a member of the palm tribe

Geonomateae Geonomateae (also Geonomeae) is a palm tribe in the subfamily Arecoideae. It is an important Neotropical group due to its wide distribution across Central and South America, its diversity and abundance, and the use of a number of species by local ...

(

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 ...

Arecoideae The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...

), an important

Neotropic The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

al group due to its wide distribution across Central and South America, its diversity and abundance, and the use of a number of species by local human populations. The distribution of the tribe Geonomeae stretches from southeast Mexico down through Central America and into South America, notably

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 ...

and

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 species are also found in the Greater and Lesser

Antilles The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater An ...

. This tribe consists of a group of understory and sub-canopy palms that populate both tropical lowland and

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

s. While members of this group are relatively easy to collect, as they are not canopy palms or spiny palms, and are well represented in

herbaria A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

, the taxonomy and phylogeny of the species within the tribe are still uncertain. The resolution of the tribe has been disputed despite the fact that

species are characterized by three morphological

synapomorphies In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to ...

: the petals of pistillate flowers are basally connate, the presence of slender and elongate styles, and the flowers are borne in pits in the rachillae.

Species

The following species are currently recognized: * ''

Geonoma appuniana ''Geonoma'' is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the Neotropics. Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the ...

Spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

* ''

Geonoma arundinacea ''Geonoma'' is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the Neotropics. Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the ...

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 ...

* ''

Geonoma aspidiifolia ''Geonoma'' is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the Neotropics. Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the ...

* '' Geonoma atrovirens'' Borchs. & Balslev * '' Geonoma baculifera'' (

Poit. Pierre-Antoine Poiteau (23 March 1766 – 27 February 1854) was a French botanist, gardener and botanical artist. Biography He was born in Ambleny, France. After having worked in kitchen gardens and for the Parisian market gardeners, he was a ...

)

Kunth Carl Sigismund Kunth (18 June 1788 – 22 March 1850) was a German botanist. He was also known as Karl Sigismund Kunth or anglicized as Charles Sigismund Kunth. He was one of the early systematic botanists who focused on studying the plants of th ...

* '' Geonoma brenesii'' Grayum * '' Geonoma brevispatha'' Barb.Rodr. * '' Geonoma brongniartii''

* '' Geonoma camana'' Trail * ''

Geonoma chlamydostachys ''Geonoma'' is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the Neotropics. Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the ...

'' Galeano-Garcés * '' Geonoma chococola'' Wess.Boer * '' Geonoma concinna''

Burret Burret () is a commune in the Ariège department of southwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Burret are called ''Burretois''. See also *Communes of the Ariège department The following is a list of the 325 communes of the Ar ...

* '' Geonoma congesta'' H.Wendl. ex

* '' Geonoma cuneata'' H.Wendl. ex

* '' Geonoma densa'' Linden & H.Wendl. * ''

'' (

)

* '' Geonoma divisa'' H.E.Moore * '' Geonoma epetiolata'' H.E.Moore * '' Geonoma ferruginea'' H.Wendl. ex

* '' Geonoma frontinensis'' * '' Geonoma gamiova'' Barb.Rodr. * '' Geonoma gastoniana'' Glaz. ex

Drude In German folklore, a drude (, , pl. ''Druden'') is a kind of malevolent nocturnal spirit (an alp, kobold or hag) associated with nightmares, prevalent especially in Southern Germany. Druden were said to participate in the Wild Hunt and we ...

* '' Geonoma hoffmanniana'' H.Wendl. ex

* '' Geonoma hugonis'' Grayum &

Nevers Nevers ( , ; , later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is a city and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the pr ...

* '' Geonoma interrupta'' (

Ruiz The Spanish surname Ruiz is a patronymic from the personal name Ruy, a short form of Rodrigo, meaning "son of Roderick". Roderick's roots can be traced back to the Visigoths, the Germanic tribe which ruled in the Iberian Peninsula between the 5th an ...

& Pav.)

* '' Geonoma irena'' Borchs. * '' Geonoma jussieuana''

in A.D.d'Orbigny * '' Geonoma laxiflora''

* '' Geonoma leptospadix'' Trail * '' Geonoma linearis''

* '' Geonoma longipedunculata''

* '' Geonoma longivaginata'' H.Wendl. ex

* ''

* '' Geonoma maxima'' (

)

* '' Geonoma monospatha'' de Nevers * '' Geonoma mooreana'' de Nevers & Grayum * '' Geonoma myriantha'' Dammer * '' Geonoma oldemanii'' Granv. * '' Geonoma oligoclona'' Trail * ''

in A.D.d'Orbigny * '' Geonoma paradoxa''

* '' Geonoma paraguanensis'' H.Karst. * '' Geonoma pauciflora''

* '' Geonoma poeppigiana''

in A.D.d'Orbigny * '' Geonoma pohliana''

* '' Geonoma polyandra'' Skov * '' Geonoma polyneura''

* '' Geonoma rubescens'' H.Wendl. ex

* ''

Geonoma santanderensis ''Geonoma'' is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the Neotropics. Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the ...

'' Galeano & R.Bernal * ''

Geonoma schottiana ''Geonoma'' is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the Neotropics. Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the ...

* '' Geonoma scoparia'' Grayum &

* '' Geonoma seleri''

* '' Geonoma simplicifrons''

Willd. Carl Ludwig Willdenow (22 August 1765 – 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. Willdenow was also ...

* '' Geonoma spinescens'' H.Wendl. * '' Geonoma stricta'' (

)

* '' Geonoma supracostata'' Svenning * '' Geonoma talamancana'' Grayum * '' Geonoma tenuissima'' H.E.Moore * '' Geonoma triandra'' (

) Wess.Boer * '' Geonoma triglochin''

* '' Geonoma trigona'' (

& Pav.) A.H.Gentry * '' Geonoma umbraculiformis'' Wess.Boer * ''

Geonoma undata ''Geonoma undata'' is a species of medium-sized Arecaceae, palm tree native to North and South America. It grows in the understory of tropical forests at high altitudes. This species has highly variable traits depending on its geographic locatio ...

Klotzsch Johann Friedrich Klotzsch (9 June 1805 – 5 November 1860) was a German pharmacist and botanist. His principal work was in the field of mycology, with the study and description of many species of mushroom. Klotzsch was born in Wittenberg. Origi ...

* '' Geonoma weberbaueri'' Dammer ex

* ''

Geonoma wilsonii ''Geonoma'' is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America. This palm genus is one of the largest in the Neotropics. Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the ...

'' Galeano & R.Bernal

References

{{Authority control Trees of the Caribbean Trees of Central America Trees of South America Arecaceae genera