Metroxylon

Metroxylon
Metroxylon sagu
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Arecales Family: Arecaceae Genus: Metroxylon Rottb.
Species
See text

Metroxylon is a monoecious genus of flowering plant in the Arecaceae (palm) family, consisting of seven species. They are native to Western Samoa, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Moluccas, the Carolines and Fiji in a variety of habitats, and cultivated westward to Thailand and Malaya.

The name is formed from the combination of two Greek words, metra - "womb", commonly translated as "heart" in this context and xylon - "wood".

Description

The trunks of Metroxylon species are solitary or clumped and large to massive in size, and usually sprout aerial roots at leaf-scar rings. All but one is monocarpic (hapaxanthic), foliage is pinnate with over-sized petioles and leaf sheaths. The petioles are distinguished by "groups of small black spines resembling the record made by a seismograph as it registers a mild tremor".Riffle, R. L. and Craft, P. (2003). An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. Portland: Timber Press. ISBN-10: 0881925586 / ISBN-13: 978-0881925586 (page 389) All species have spines on the rachis and petiole. The monocarpic species present a Christmas-tree shaped inflorescence, or instead, upward-reaching branches spreading horizontally. The fruit, covered in tough scales, are relatively large for palms and contain one seed.

It contains the following species Kew Checklist of Arecaceae: MetroxylonMetroxylon species (Sago palm).

• Metroxylon amicarum (H.Wendl.) Hook.f.
• Metroxylon paulcoxii McClatchey
• Metroxylon sagu Rottb. – Sago Palm
• Metroxylon salomonense (Warb.) Becc. – Salomon Palm
• Metroxylon upoluense Becc.
• Metroxylon vitiense (H.Wendl.) Hook.f. – Viti Palm
• Metroxylon warburgii (Heimerl) Becc.

References

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