Borasseae is a
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
in the palm
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
Coryphoideae
The Coryphoideae is one of five subfamilies in the palm family, Arecaceae. It contains all of the genera with palmate leaves, excepting ''Mauritia'', ''Mauritiella'' and ''Lepidocaryum,'' all of subfamily Calamoideae, tribe Lepidocaryeae, subtr ...
.
The tribe ranges from southern
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
north through the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...
to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Indochina
Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
. Several genera are restricted to islands in the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
. The two largest
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
, ''
Hyphaene
''Hyphaene'' is a genus of Arecaceae, palms native to Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent.Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ...
'' and ''
Borassus
''Borassus'' (palmyra palm) is a genus of five species of fan palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Papua New Guinea.
Description
These massive palms can grow up to high and have robust trunks with distinct leaf scars; in so ...
'', are also the most widespread.
Description
Borassoid palms typically have large, column-like trunks, though several species of ''Hyphaene'' have branching or clustered stems. The leaves are large, palmate and often with spines or sharp edges along the
petioles. Leaves are retained on young palm stems, later falling to reveal prominent scars. All genera in the Borasseae are
dioecious
Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...
, with separate male and female trees; they are pleonanthic, flowering regularly for many years.
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
s are large and pendulous; the male flowers are much smaller than the female and are borne in clusters within catkin-like structures. Fruits contain hard, woody
endocarps surrounding the seeds; they range in size from
date
Date or dates may refer to:
*Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'')
Social activity
*Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner
**Group dating
*Play date, an ...
-sized (''
Latania
''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. Species
The genus contains three species, one from each of the three m ...
'') to the massive fruits of ''
Lodoicea
''Lodoicea'', commonly known as the sea coconut, coco de mer, or double coconut, is a monotypic genus in the palm family. The sole species, ''Lodoicea maldivica'', is endemic to the islands of Praslin and Curieuse in the Seychelles. It has th ...
'', which contain the largest seed in the world.
Taxonomy
The Borasseae is one of eight tribes in subfamily Coryphoideae.
The tribe is
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
and most
phylogenetic
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
studies place it as sister to tribe
Corypheae
Corypheae is a tribe of palm trees in the subfamily Coryphoideae. In previous classifications, tribe Corypheae included four subtribes: Coryphinae, Livistoninae, Thrinacinae and Sabalinae, but recent phylogenetic studies have led to the genera ...
, though it is also close to tribe
Caryoteae
Caryoteae is a tribe in the palm family Arecaceae, distributed across Southeast Asia, from southern India and Sri Lanka east to Vanuatu and northernmost Queensland, Australia. It was long considered a member of subfamily Arecoideae on the basis o ...
and tribe
Chuniophoeniceae
Chuniophoeniceae is a tribe of palms in subfamily Coryphoideae of plant family Arecaceae. The four genera within the tribe are morphologically dissimilar and do not have overlapping distributions. Three of the genera are monotypic, while the fou ...
.
Together, the four tribes make up the
syncarpous
Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...
clade, all members of which have syncarpous
ovaries
The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. T ...
with united
carpels
Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...
.
The eight genera of tribe Borasseae split evenly into two subtribes. In the palms of subtribe
Hyphaenieae, both the male and female flowers are sunken within pits and the fruits are stalked and typically one-seeded.
''
Bismarckia
''Bismarckia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family endemic to western and northern Madagascar where they grow in open grassland. The genus is named for the first chancellor of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck and the ep ...
'' (1 sp., ''B. nobilis'') and ''
Satranala
''Satranala decussilvae'' is a species of flowering plant in the Arecaceae family. It is a palm endemic to Madagascar. It is the only species in the genus ''Satranala'', and is threatened by habitat loss
Habitat destruction (also termed hab ...
'' (1 sp., ''S. decussilvae'') are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to Madagascar, ''
Medemia'' (1 sp., ''M. argun'') is restricted to
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
, while ''Hyphaene'' (8 spp.) ranges from southern Africa and Madagascar to western India. In subtribe
Lataniieae, only the male flowers are sunken in pits and the fruits are sessile, with 1-3 seeds.
''
Lodoicea
''Lodoicea'', commonly known as the sea coconut, coco de mer, or double coconut, is a monotypic genus in the palm family. The sole species, ''Lodoicea maldivica'', is endemic to the islands of Praslin and Curieuse in the Seychelles. It has th ...
'' (1 sp., ''L. maldivica'') is endemic to the
Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...
, ''
Latania
''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. Species
The genus contains three species, one from each of the three m ...
'' (3 spp.) is endemic to the
Mascarene Islands
The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Thei ...
, while ''
Borassodendron
''Borassodendron'' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It contains two species, native to Southeast Asia.Barfod, A.S. & Dransfield, J. (2013). Flora of Thailand 11(3): 323-498. The Forest Herbarium, National Park, Wildlife and ...
'' has two species, one in
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
(
''B. borneense'') and one in the
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
(''
B. machadonis''). The last of the genera, ''
Borassus
''Borassus'' (palmyra palm) is a genus of five species of fan palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Papua New Guinea.
Description
These massive palms can grow up to high and have robust trunks with distinct leaf scars; in so ...
'' (5 spp.),
is the most widespread and is found in
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
, Madagascar,
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
and New Guinea.
An extinct genus of the subtribe Hyphaeninae is known from the
Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
aged
Intertrappean Beds
The Intertrappean Beds are a Late Cretaceous geologic formation in India. The beds are found as interbeds between Deccan Traps layers. Indeterminate theropod and pterosaur remains have been recovered from the formation, as well as dinosaur eggs ...
of India.
Conservation
Many species in tribe Borasseae are threatened with extinction (36% of total recognized species):
* ''
Borassodendron machadonis'' -
Vulnerable
* ''
Borassus madagascariensis'' -
Endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
* ''
Latania loddigesii
''Latania loddigesii'' is a species of palm tree. The species is named in honor of Joachim Loddiges. It is endemic to Mauritius, where the only remaining populations are located on the offshore islands. It is also grown as an ornamental plant
...
'' - Endangered
* ''
Latania lontaroides
''Latania lontaroides'' is a species of arecaceae, palm tree. It is endemism, endemic to Réunion. It is also used as an ornamental plant. Its common names include the Red Latan, ''latanier de la Réunion'', and ''latanier rouge''. The Diaspidi ...
'' - Endangered
* ''
Latania verschaffeltii
''Latania verschaffeltii'', the yellow latan palm, is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is found only on Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean, part of the Republic of Mauritius, 560 km east of the Island of Mauritius. I ...
'' - Endangered
* ''
Lodoicea maldivica'' - Endangered
* ''
Medemia argun
''Medemia argun'' is a rare species of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) native to Egypt and Sudan. It is the only species in the genus ''Medemia''.
The palm's dried dates have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs.
Description
''Medemia argun'' ...
'' -
Critically Endangered
* ''
Satranala decussilvae'' - Endangered
Gallery
File:Latania loddigesii 6zz.jpg, Female flowers of ''Latania loddigesii''
File:Coco de mer - male.jpg, Male flowers of ''Lodoicea maldivica''
File:Coco de Mer male inflorescence.JPG, Male flowers of ''Lodoicea maldivica'' emerging from catkin-like inflorescence
File:Female nut Coco de Mer and sea foam.jpg, Seed of ''Lodoicea maldivica'', the world's largest seed
File:Latania loddigesii seeds.jpg, Seed of ''Latania'' are the smallest in the tribe
File:Doum Palm.jpg, Unlike most Borasseae, ''Hyphaene'' species often have branching stems (this is ''H. compressa'')
File:Borassus aethiopum 0033.jpg, All Borasseae have palmate leaves, as with this ''Borassus aethiopum''
File:Bismarckia nobilis palm tree growing on Sanibel Island, Florida.jpg, The silvery leaves of ''Bismarckia nobilis'' make it a popular palm in cultivation
File:Borassus aethiopum 0098.jpg, ''Borassus'' fruits are large and fleshy, with 1-3 seeds (this is ''B. aethiopum'')
File:Hyphaene petersiana01.jpg, ''Hyphaene'' fruits have a dry, cake-like flesh and a single seed (this is ''H. petersiana''
File:Lodoicea maldivica.jpg, The massive leaves of ''Lodoicea maldivica'' are some of the largest palmate leaves in the family
File:Atakora-Borassus aethiopum (3).jpg, Leaf scars on the trunk of ''Borassus aethiopum'' are revealed as the leaf sheaths fall off
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q893320
Monocot tribes