''Trithrinax campestris'', the caranday palm, is a

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n palm tree native of

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an and northeastern

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

sabanas, where it shares its habitat with ''

Copernicia alba ''Copernicia alba'' is a South American species of palm tree, which is found in the Humid Chaco ecoregion in Bolivia, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil (in the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul) and Argentina (especially the province of Form ...

'' among others and extends also to the summits of mountain ranges of

Sierras de Córdoba The Sierras de Córdoba is a mountain range in central Argentina, located between the Pampas to the east and south and the Chaco to the north and east. Most of the range is located in Córdoba Province, except for the southwestern margin whic ...

and Sierras de San Luis. It is a very rustic palm that grows in arid, well drained, rocky soils. Its distinctive features are its compact shape, short green to grayish foliage, and trunk fully hidden by dry dead leaf bases (coat) remaining from several previous seasons.

Morphology

''Trithrinax campestris'' is a

monocot Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of ...

flowering A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

palm of relative low height (up to 6 m tall) and 20–25 cm wide stems usually covered by fibrous-spiny remains of earlier foliage which acts as a thick protective coat. Caranday leaves are about 1 m long,

palmate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

, rounded, with a very rigid and spiny petiole. The leaflet segments are rigid, dark green to a more blue hue, with light green undersides. These are possibly the toughest leaves among

Arecaceae The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

. As habitat altitude increases the foliage becomes more grayish, this is typical of mountain carandays. Flowers compose highly branched

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 located at the base of the lower living leaves. These contain up to 100 white

hermaphrodite 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 Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

flowers 10 to 12 mm wide. This palm flowers in autumn. Fruits ripen towards the end of the next summer. They consist of subspherical yellow brownish

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

s, 1 to 2 cm wide, with a thin fleshy mesocarp and a fibrous endocarp. Caranday is

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy is conne ...

, a feature common to the conifers but rare in angiosperms.

Habitat

''Trithrinax campestris'' prefers well drained, sandy or rocky soils (although it is resistant to extended persistent flooding). It is very resistant to drought, and -9 °C/-15 °C temperatures when not in growing season, although it tends to shed its leaves in these conditions. It is one of the most cold-hardy palms in the world, because it also grows in the mountains of

and Sierras de San Luis; it is known that specimens growing at those elevations tolerate special cold conditions. It has thrived as far north as the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

. Seeds germinate quickly, but later growth is mostly slow. These palms are naturally found in groups, formations of several individuals, or composing large caranday forests where they present strong dominance. Its main environmental threat is deforestation or natural fire, as caranday's thick dry stem coats are highly flammable.

Usage

Leaves are rich in strong fiber, very resistant to tension. It is extracted to manufacture crafts such as hats, shoes and fans. Whole leaves are cut and used as rudimentary brushes. Fruits are not eaten, however, an alcoholic beverage is prepared locally through their

fermentation Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...

. Caranday palms are also appreciated and grown worldwide as an easy to keep, cold weather and drought resistant, ornamental small palm. It is besides a good honey-producing plantFagúndez, G. A. y Caccavari, M. A. 2001a. Elementos de mielada en mieles de la provincia de Entre Ríos. XXVIII Jornadas Argentinas de Botánica (Santa Rosa, 2001). Bol. Soc. Argentina Bot . 36 (Supl.): 136.

References

External links

Scanpalm ''Trithrinax''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q611750 campestris Trees of Uruguay Trees of Argentina Trees of temperate climates Drought-tolerant trees Ornamental trees Taxa named by Carl Georg Oscar Drude