Wettinia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Cladus: Commelinids
Ordo: Arecales

Familia: Arecaceae
Subfamilia: Arecoideae
Tribus: Iriarteeae
Genus: Wettinia
Species: W. aequalis – W. aequatorialis – W. anomala – W. augusta – W. castanea – W. disticha – W. drudei – W. fascicularis – W. hirsuta – W. kalbreyeri – W. lanata – W. longipetala – W. maynensis – W. microcarpa – W. minima – W. oxycarpa – W. panamensis – W. praemorsa – W. quinaria – W. radiata – W. verruculosa
Name

Wettinia Poepp. ex Endl., Gen. Pl.: 243 (1837)

Type species: Wettinia augusta Poepp. & Endl., Nov. Gen. Sp. Pl. 2: 39 (1838)

Synonyms

Heterotypic
Catoblastus H.Wendl., Bonplandia (Hannover) 8: 104 (1860).
Acrostigma O.F.Cook & Doyle, Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 16: 228 (1913).
Catostigma O.F.Cook & Doyle, Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 16: 230 (1913).
Wettinella O.F.Cook & Doyle, Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 16: 235 (1913).
Wettiniicarpus Burret, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 10: 937 (1930).

References

Poeppig, E.F. (1837) Genera Plantarum 243. BHL
Govaerts, R. et al. 2015. Wettinia in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2015 Oct. 19. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2015. Wettinia. Published online. Accessed: Oct. 19 2015.
Tropicos.org 2015. Wettinia. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2015 Oct. 19.

Wettinia is a palm genus, consisting of flowering plants in the family Arecaceae. The genus, established in 1837, contains some 20 species, but more seem to await discovery considering that 4 species - W. aequatorialis, W. lanata, W. minima and W. panamensis - were described as late as 1995. The genus is broadly divided into two groups. One group has the fruits tightly packed, while the other, formerly classified as genus Catoblastus, has fruits scattered along the inflorescence branches. It is not known whether these groups are both monophyletic. The genus is named after Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, of the House of Wettin.[2]

Morphology

Palms of the genus Wettinia are monoecious, medium-sized to large, and typically solitary-trunked. They have a low, dense cone of brown or black stilt roots, and pinnate leaves. The rope-like inflorescences of the plant emerge from leathery spathes, and grow in a circular pattern around one or more trunk rings beneath the crown shaft. They are unisexual, fleshy, and cream colored or white. The fruit is small to medium-sized and elongated, green to bluish black in color. It grows either dispersed along the branches or in a tightly packed ellipsoid or sausage-like cylinder.
Distribution

Members of this genus are found in Panama and in northern and northwestern South America (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, northwestern Brazil).[1] Although none of the species are frost-tolerant, they are found primarily in cooler and higher-altitude locations, up to 2,200 m in the case of Wettinia kalbreyeri, and are particularly prevalent along the foothills of the Andes.
Species[3]

Wettinia s. str. group:

Wettinia aequatorialis R.Bernal - Ecuador
Wettinia augusta Poepp. & Endl. - Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, northwestern Brazil
Wettinia castanea H.E.Moore & J.Dransf. - Colombia
Wettinia fascicularis (Burret) H.E.Moore & J.Dransf. - Colombia, Ecuador
Wettinia hirsuta Burret - v
Wettinia lanata R.Bernal - Colombia
Wettinia longipetala A.H.Gentry - Pasco region of Peru
Wettinia minima R.Bernal - Ecuador
Wettinia oxycarpa Galeano-Garcés & R.Bernal - Colombia, Ecuador
Wettinia panamensis R.Bernal - Panama
Wettinia quinaria (O.F.Cook & Doyle) Burret - Colombia, Ecuador
Wettinia verruculosa H.E.Moore - Colombia, Ecuador

Catoblastus group:

Wettinia aequalis (O.F.Cook & Doyle) R.Bernal - Colombia, Ecuador, Panama
Wettinia anomala (Burret) R.Bernal - Colombia, Ecuador
Wettinia disticha (R.Bernal) R.Bernal - Colombia
Wettinia drudei (O.F.Cook & Doyle) A.J.Hend. - Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, northwestern Brazil
Wettinia kalbreyeri (Burret) R.Bernal - Colombia, Ecuador
Wettinia maynensis Spruce - Peru, Colombia, Ecuador
Wettinia microcarpa (Burret) R.Bernal - Norte de Santander region of Colombia
Wettinia praemorsa (Willd.) Wess.Boer - Colombia, Venezuela
Wettinia radiata (O.F.Cook & Doyle) R.Bernal - Colombia, Panama

Footnotes

Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
Henderson et al. (1995): p.111

Govaerts et al. (2008)

References

Craft, Paul & Riffle, Robert Lee (2003): An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. Timber Press. HTML preview at Google Books
Govaerts, R.; Dransfield, J.; Zona, S.F; Hodel, D.R. & Henderson, Andrew (2008): Wettinia. In: World Checklist of Arecaceae. Retrieved 2008-APR-01.
Henderson, Andrew; Galeano, Gloria & Bernal, Rodrigo (1995): Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. ISBN 0-691-08537-4 HTML preview at Google Books