Latania

Short description: Genus of palms

Latania

Red latan palm
Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Plantae
Clade:  | Tracheophytes
Clade:  | Angiosperms
Clade:  | Monocots
Clade:  | Commelinids
Order:  | Arecales
Family:  | Arecaceae
Tribe:  | Borasseae
Genus:  | Latania
Comm. ex Juss.
Type species
Latania lontaroides

Synonyms[1]

* Cleophora Gaertn.

Latania, commonly known as latan palm or latania palm, is a genus of flowering plant in the palm tree family, native to the Mascarene Islands in the western Indian Ocean.[1][2]

## Species

The genus contains three species, one from each of the three major islands (including islets) in the chain. All species have been ranked as Endangered by the IUCN.[3]

Image | Leaves | Common Name | Scientific name | Native Distribution

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| 120px | blue latan palm, latanier de l'Ile Ronde | Latania loddigesii Mart. | Mauritius
| 120px | red latan palm, latanier de la Réunion | Latania lontaroides (Gaertn.) H.E.Moore | Réunion
| 120px | yellow latan palm, latanier de Rodrigues | Latania verschaffeltii Lem. | Rodrigues Island

Latan palms are large, single-stemmed fan palms with separate male and female plants (dioecy); when the leaves fall, they leave scars on the trunks. Male flowers are small, in clusters, and emerge from within leathery bracts on the catkin-like inflorescences. Female flowers are larger, solitary and not concealed within bracts. The fruits contain 1-3 pyrenes, which are seeds enclosed within woody endocarps.[4] The endocarps have sculpted surfaces and the three species are readily distinguished from their pyrenes.[5]

Pyrenes (seeds within endocarps) of the three species of Latania: left, L. verschaffeltii; middle, L. lontaroides; right, L. loddigesii

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
2. ↑ Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
3. ↑ "Latania conservation status". http://www.iucnredlist.org/search.
4. ↑ Dransfield, John; Uhl, Natalie W.; Asmussen, Conny B.; Baker, William J.; Harley, Madeline M.; Lewis, Carl E. (2008). Genera Palmarum - Evolution and Classification of Palms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 978-1842461822.
5. ↑ Bayton, Ross P.. Borassus L. and the borassoid palms - systematics and evolution (PhD Thesis). University of Reading.

## External links

Wikidata ☰ Q141248 entry

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