Welfia H.Wendl., Gartenflora 18: 242 (1869)

Primary tabs

https://media.e-taxonomy.eu/palmae/photos/palm_tc_214387_1.jpg

Distribution

Map uses TDWG level 3 distributions (https://github.com/tdwg/wgsrpd)
Colombia present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Costa Rica present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Ecuador present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Honduras present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Nicaragua present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Panamá present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
One species, from Honduras to west and east Colombia and Ecuador. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Discussion

  • A distinctive large subcanopy tree with feather duster crown and leaves with large, several-ribbed pinnae. The numerous (about 42) stamens with filaments united in a tube basally but free and fleshy distally are diagnostic. Their development follows a pattern not recorded in any other palm genus; after sepal and petal origin, the floral apex expands in lobes opposite the sepals, and stamens arise in arcs of ca. 6 opposite each sepal and petal (Uhl and Moore 1980).
    (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Diagnosis

  • Moderate pinnate-leaved palm from Central and South America, distinctive in the very robust rachillae, with deep pits out of which emerge the flowers, the staminate flower with numerous stamens, and the 2-keeled fruit. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Biology And Ecology

  • Occurring from lowlands to 2000 m above sea level in the Andes in dense rain forest. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Common Name

  • Not recorded. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Etymology

  • Named for the House of Welf (English Guelf or Guelph, Italian Guelpho), dynasty of German nobles and rulers in Italy and central Europe in the Middle Ages, later including the Hanoverian Welfs, who became rulers of Great Britain. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Uses

  • Not recorded. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Description

  • Moderate, solitary, unarmed, pleonanthic, monoecious palm. Stem erect, leaf scars conspicuous, wide, rather distant, upper trunk orange to brown. Leaves large, marcescent, regularly pinnate, ± erect and arching at the tip in a feather-duster crown; sheath soon splitting opposite the petiole, not forming a crownshaft, abaxially thick, somewhat ridged, densely tomentose, margins disintegrating into large fibres; petiole short, deeply channelled adaxially, rounded abaxially, densely tomentose; rachis much longer than the petiole, adaxially flattened, laterally channelled, abaxially rounded; leaflets subopposite to almost alternate, broadly lanceolate, pendulous, single-fold, glabrous and darker adaxially, pale but with a dense layer of tomentum abaxially, midrib not evident, ca. 8–several, nearly equal, rather large veins more conspicuous abaxially, transverse veinlets not evident. Inflorescences interfoliar and erect in bud, becoming infrafoliar and pendulous, branched to 1(–2) orders, protandrous; peduncle short, very stout, recurved; prophyll tubular, flat, wide, woody, deeply grooved abaxially, tomentose, margins with wide flat keels, often notched; complete peduncular bracts l, like the prophyll but shorter and thinner, leathery, subsequent peduncular bracts several, short, stiff, rounded, spirally inserted above the peduncular bract; rachis short, about as long as the peduncle, bearing spirally arranged, small, rounded or pointed, ovate bracts subtending rachillae; rachillae stout, bearing 8 rows of partly sunken, stiff ovate bracts each subtending a triad of flowers borne in a pit. Staminate flowers sessile, borne to the outside of the pistillate flower within the pit; sepals 3, chaffy, briefly united basally to the floral receptacle, narrow, keeled, overlapping distally in bud; petals 3, elongate, connate and joined with the floral receptacle for ca. 1/3 their length, free lobes ± boat-shaped, valvate, chaffy; stamens 36 (27–42) in antesepalous and antepetalous groups (see Uhl and Moore 1980), filaments short, broad, connective with a pointed tip, anthers linear-sagittate, basifixed, introrse; pistillode consisting of 3 small tubercles or lacking. Pollen asymmetric ellipsoidal, or pyriform; aperture a distal sulcus; ectexine tectate, finely perforate, perforate and micro-channelled, or perforate-rugulate, aperture margin slightly finer; infratectum columellate, longest axis 25–45 µm [1/1]. Pistillate flower rounded, pointed in bud; sepals 3, distinct, narrow, overlapping, keeled, chaffy; petals 3, connate in a tube for 2/3 their length or more, distinct lobes triangular, valvate, chaffy; staminodes numerous (15–16), adnate to the corolla tube for 2/3 their length, free and awl-shaped or linear-triangular above; gynoecium trilocular, triovulate, 3-angled with the adaxial side longer, style long, cylindrical, stigmas 3, recurved, ovule axile at the centre of the locule, anatropous. Fruit almond-shaped, slightly compressed dorsiventrally, laterally ridged, with a short apical point, dull purple, stigmatic remains and abortive carpels basal; epicarp smooth, ± shiny, mesocarp with slender parallel fibres, endocarp thin, crustaceous. Seed purple, ellipsoidal, rounded apically, covered in a white, sweet-tasting mucilage-like coating when ripe, hilum lateral at the base, raphe ± encircling the seed with short basal and apical branches, endosperm homogeneous; embryo eccentric at the base. Germination adjacent-ligular, eophyll bifid. Cytology unknown. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Anatomy

  • Leaf (Tomlinson 1961, Wessels Boer 1968), root (Seubert 1998a, 1998b), and flower (Uhl and Moore 1980, Stauffer and Endress 2003). (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Fossil record

  • No generic records found. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Relationships

  • Welfia is resolved as sister to Pholidostachys with moderate support (Asmussen et al. 2006, Baker et al. in review), or as sister to a clade of Pholidostachys, Calyptronoma and Calyptrogyne (Asmussen 1999a). (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Taxonomic accounts

  • Wessels Boer (1968) and Henderson et al. (1995). (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Bibliography

    A. Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms
    B. World Checklist of Arecaceae