Hydriastele is a diverse and widespread genus of flowering plant in the palm family found throughout northern Australia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Southeast Asia. It consisted of just nine species until 2004, when molecular research, supported by morphologic similarities, led taxonomists to include the members of the Gulubia, Gronophyllum, and Siphokentia genera. About 40 species are now recognized.[2]

Hydriastele
Hydriastele pinangoides
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Subfamily: Arecoideae
Tribe: Areceae
Genus: Hydriastele
H. Wendl. & Drude[1]
Synonyms[1]

Description

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The palms now classified in this genus have uniting traits but are nonetheless diverse. Pleonanthy, monoecy, crownshafts, peduncular bracts, and the lack of armament characterize all members. The trunks may be solitary or suckering and may be diminutive to robust, spanning a range of heights. The leaves are pinnate and widely varied. The inflorescences are branched to three orders with both male and female flowers, some of which are beetle-pollinated.[3] The fruit may be ellipsoidal or spherical and colored yellow, orange, red, purple, or black when ripe, each with a single seed.

Taxonomy

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The genus Hydriastele was first formally described in 1875 by Hermann Wendland and Carl Georg Oscar Drude in the journal Linnaea and the type species is Hydriastele wendlandiana.[4] The genus name is derived from Greek, combining "hydriad", a water nymph in mythology, and "column".[5]

Species list

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The following is a list of Hydriastele species accepted by Plants of the World Online as at December 2022:

Distribution and habitat

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Their known natural range includes a number of tropical settings in Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, Australia, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, New Hebrides, Fiji, and Palau. Very often they are found in rain forests of the montane and low lying varieties or upon ultrabasic rock, limestone ridges and serpentine faces.

Cultivation and uses

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Several of these palms are cultivated and typically require conditions resembling those of their range. The trunks of some species are used as wall and floorboard components in house construction or split and fashioned into spears.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Hydriastele". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  2. ^ Baker, W.J. "A synopsis of the genus Hydriastele (Arecaceae)". Archived from the original on 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  3. ^ a b 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. ISBN 0-935868-30-5 / ISBN 978-0-935868-30-2
  4. ^ "Hydriastele". APNI. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  5. ^ Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. Portland: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-558-6 / ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6
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Notes

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^a The original website at palmguide.org has been usurped and its full content is no longer available. This link is an incomplete archive of the original.