Latania

Latan palm
Red Latan Palm
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Subfamily: Coryphoideae
Tribe: Borasseae
Genus: Latania
Comm. ex Juss.
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 islands in the western Indian Ocean.[1][2]

Latania contains the following species:

  1. Latania loddigesii Mart. - (Blue Latan Palm) from Mauritius
  2. Latania lontaroides (Gaertn.) H.E.Moore - (Red Latan Palm) from Réunion
  3. Latania verschaffeltii Lem. - (Yellow Latan Palm) from Rodrigues Island

Common names: The Red Latan Palm is also known as Latania borbonica, Latania commersonii, and Latanier Rouge. Family: Arecaceae Origin: It is native to the Island of Reunion where they are being threatened to extinction. Appearance: It has a single clean trunk, slightly swollen at the base. Trunk is smooth, woody, about 10 inches in diameter, lightly ringed by the scars from the fallen fronds. Large, palmate, or fan-shaped, leaves create a rounded crown 15-20ft across. Stiff leaves are supported by large armed stems 4-5ft long. Young palms have reddish leaves, petiole, leaf margins and veins, hence this palm’s common name Red Latan Palm. As they grow their leaves lose their color and turn green. Leafstems and the leave margins always stay red. The surface of each leaf is covered with a whitish, waxy deposit, providing a silvery appearance to the palm. Flowers/Fruits: During spring, the Red Latan Palm produces small yellow flowers that grow in clusters on 6ft long inflorescence that emerge from among the leaves. Red Latan Palm is dioecious, male and female flowers are born on separate plants. Flowers are followed by oval fruit. Fruit is brownish green, fleshy, 2-3 inches long, with a single seed inside. Seed is round at one end but pointed at the other.

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.

External links

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