Chuniophoeniceae 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 is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

of palms in subfamily

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, s ...

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

family Arecaceae. The four genera within the tribe are morphologically dissimilar and do not have overlapping distributions. Three of the genera are

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

, while the fourth

genus 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 nom ...

('' Chuniophoenix'') has three

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

Description

Outwardly, the palms in the four genera of Chuniophoeniceae appear quite different. ''Chuniophoenix'' are small palms from the forest understory with clustered stems; '' Kerriodoxa'' is a squat, single-stemmed rainforest palm; ''

Nannorrhops ''Nannorrhops ritchiana'', the Mazari palm, is the sole species in the genus ''Nannorrhops'' in the palm family Arecaceae. Distribution It is native to southwestern Asia, in the historical region of Balochistan, from the southeast of the Arabian ...

'' is a sprawling desert palm with branching stems; and ''

Tahina Tahini () or tahina (, ) is a Middle Eastern condiment made from toasted ground hulled sesame. It is served by itself (as a dip) or as a major ingredient in hummus, baba ghanoush, and halva. Tahini is used in the cuisines of the Levant and Eas ...

'' is a massive solitary palm from exposed limestone outcrops. They differ significantly in their flowering strategies, too. ''Chuniophoenix'' species flower regularly throughout their lives (pleonanthic) and produce

hermaphroditic In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have s ...

flowers (rarely single gender); ''Kerriodoxa'' are also pleonanthic, but are always dioecious; ''Nannorrhops'' stems die after flowering (hapaxanthic), though the much-branched plant survives; ''Tahina'' produces a massive terminal inflorescence and dies after fruiting. All Chuniophoeniceae have palmate leaves with induplicate folds and tubular bracts partially enclosing the flowers.

Taxonomy

Chuniophoeniceae is one of eight tribes in subfamily Coryphoideae. The tribe is monophyletic and closely related to tribes Caryoteae, Corypheae and

Borasseae Borasseae is a tribe in the palm subfamily Coryphoideae. The tribe ranges from southern Africa and Madagascar north through the Arabian Peninsula to India, Indochina, Indonesia and New Guinea. Several genera are restricted to islands in the India ...

, forming the syncarpous clade. In a previous classification, prior to the discovery of ''Tahina'', the three other genera were placed in tribe Corypheae, subtribe Coryphinae, together with the genus ''

Corypha ''Corypha'' (gebang palm, buri palm or talipot palm) is a genus of palms (family Arecaceae), native to India, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea and northeastern Australia (Cape York Peninsula, Queensland). They are fan palms (su ...

''. Coincidentally, ''Corypha'' and ''Tahina'' both share the strategy of producing a massive display of flowers only once before dying. The four genera have widely disjunct distributions. ''Chuniophoenix'' (3 spp.) is found in southern China and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

; ''Kerriodoxa'' (1 sp., ''K. elegans'') is restricted to peninsular

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

; ''Nannorrhops'' (1 sp., ''N. ritchiana'') is found in parts of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and the southeastern Arabian Peninsula; while ''Tahina'' (1 sp., ''T. spectabilis'') is

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 else ...

to a small area of northwestern

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 ...

Genera

Gallery

File:Chuniophoenix nana kz1.jpg, Foliage of ''Chuniophoenix nana'' File:Kerriodoxa elegans Habitus.jpg, Distinctive white undersides to the leaves of ''Kerriodoxa elegans'' File:Kerriodoxa elegans, fruit (14439293434).jpg, Fruits of ''Kerriodoxa elegans'' File:Nannorrhops ritchiana kz2.jpg, Silvery-blue foliage of ''Nannorrhops ritchiana'' File:Tahina spectabilis 9608-2008 08 11.JPG, Seedlings of ''Tahina spectabilis'' in cultivation

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1089595 Coryphoideae Monocot tribes