Pseudophoenix H.Wendl. ex Sarg., Bot. Gaz. 11: 314 (1886)

Primary tabs

https://media.e-taxonomy.eu/palmae/photos/palm_tc_166480_4.jpg

Distribution

Map uses TDWG level 3 distributions (https://github.com/tdwg/wgsrpd)
Bahamas present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Belize present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Cuba present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Dominican Republic present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Florida present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Haiti present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Mexico Southeast present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Puerto Rico present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Turks-Caicos Is. present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Windward Is. present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Four species from Florida, the Bahama Islands, Cuba, Hispaniola, and Dominica, to Mexico and Belize. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Discussion

  • Pseudophoenix stands apart as the only genus of the Ceroxyloideae having hermaphroditic flowers and a well-developed crownshaft. It has unique anatomical features of the leaf and attachment of the anther, as well as an unusually elongate base or pseudopedicel on the flower. The spirally arranged single flowers on a highly branched interfoliar inflorescence, certain anatomical features, and the presence of just one single phloem strand in the central vascular bundles of the petiole ally Pseudophoenix with the Ceroxyleae. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Diagnosis

  • Relatively short stemmed pinnate-leaved Caribbean tree palms, often with bottle-like trunks; crownshaft present; flowers are hermaphroditic or occasionally unisexual towards the tips of the rachillae and the ovary with three locules and three ovules. The fruit is lobed when more than one seed develops. (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

  • Pseudophoenix occurs on well-drained sand or porous limestone near the coast or inland on dry hills. The seeds are long-lived for palms, germinating after as much as two years in storage. Fruits become buoyant when dry and in P. sargentii may be adapted for dispersal by sea (Read 1968). (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

  • Cherry palm, buccaneer palm. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Etymology

  • Pseudo — false, phoenix — the date palm, though why Wendland chose this name is not clear. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Uses

  • Leaves may be used for thatch, and the fruit of some species for animal feed. In the past, juice from the trunk of Pseudophoenix vinifera and P. ekmanii was used in making a fermented drink. All species are striking ornamentals. (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, pleonanthic, polygamous or hermaphroditic palms. Stem erect, often swollen, prominently ringed with rather wide leaf scars, smooth to finely striate, grey or green, waxy. Leaves few, mostly ca. 10, reduplicately pinnate, deciduous by a basal abscision zone; sheath forming a short, somewhat swollen crownshaft, splitting distally opposite the petiole, waxy; petiole channelled adaxially, rounded abaxially; rachis flat to angled adaxially, rounded abaxially, ± glabrous; leaflets numerous, irregularly arranged, grouped and fanned within the groups, stiff, acute, single-fold, waxy on both surfaces, midribs evident, other veins small, transverse veinlets not evident. Inflorescences interfoliar, pendulous or arched, branched to the fifth order; peduncle elongate, dorsiventrally flattened; prophyll tubular, 2-keeled, flattened, leathery, persistent, opening at the apex; peduncular bracts 2, the first similar to the prophyll, the second usually collar-like; rachis longer than or about as long as the peduncle; rachillae stiffly spreading or pendulous, each subtended by a small open bract. Flowers borne singly, spirally arranged, each subtended by an acuminate bract, hermaphoditic proximally but the distal few staminate with a much reduced pistil, base of the flower extended in a pseudopedicel formed by fusion and elongation of the receptacle and the base of the calyx; calyx 3-lobed with rounded, apiculate tips; petals 3, valvate, thick, much longer than the calyx, basally connate in a very short tube; stamens 6, filaments thin, dilated and briefly connate in a ring basally, the apex lying in a groove in the abaxial surface of the anther to about the midpoint of the connective, then bent sharply inward, anthers large, elongate, ± pointed apically and basally, dorsifixed, latrorse; gynoecium conical, trilocular, tri-ovulate, with 3 glands at the base opposite the petals, stigmas sessile, very short, becoming recurved after fertilisation, ovules campylotropous, inserted on the adaxial side of the locule. Pollen ellipsoidal, usually more or less bi-symmetric; aperture a distal sulcus; ectexine tectate, foveolate or reticulate, aperture margin and proximal face similar, but lumina smaller; infratectum columellate; longest axis ranging from 43–55 µm [3/4]. Fruit 1–3-seeded, waxy red, globose or 2–3-lobed, stigmatic remains near the base or in a central depression in 3-seeded fruits; epicarp smooth, mesocarp fleshy, with raphides, lacking fibres, endocarp hard, brown, smooth. Seed not adherent to endocarp at maturity, hilum basal, raphe branches ascending and spreading in shallow grooves, endosperm homogeneous; embryo subbasal. Germination remote-tubular; eophyll narrow lanceolate. Cytology: 2n = 34. (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 and floral (Read 1968), and root (Seubert 1996b). The vascular system of the carpel, which consists of three major bundles with ventral bundles in ‘lateral’ positions and an ovular supply associated with ventral bundles only, resembles that of ceroxyloid and chamaedoreoid palms. The ground tissue of the gynoecium, which lacks tannins but has abundant raphides, is like that of Chamaedorea (Read 1968, Uhl and Moore 1971). (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

  • Reticulate trichotomosulcate pollen from the Lower Eocene of Saudi Arabia is compared erroneously with Pseudophoenix pollen (Srivastava and Binda 1991). Reticulate monosulcate palm-like pollen, Liliacidites tritus Frederiksen, from the Upper Eocene (Upper Jacksonian) of Texas, is also suggested to have an affinity with Pseudophoenix (Frederiksen 1980, 1981). Although geographically less persuasive, this fossil is probably more like the reticulate pollen of Ceroxylon. (Dransfield, J., Uhl, N., Asmussen, C., Baker, W.J., Harley, M. & Lewis, C. 2008: Genera Palmarum. The evolution and classification of palms)A

Relationships

  • Pseudophoenix is monophyletic with high support and on a long branch (Asmussen et al. 2006, Trénel et al. 2007). For relationships, see tribe Cyclospatheae and for interspecies relationships, see Trénel et al. (2007). (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

  • Quero (1981), Read (1968, 1969) and Zona (2002a). (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