font settings and languages

Font Size: Large | Normal | Small
Font Face: Verdana | Geneva | Georgia
Languages:

ZipcodeZoo.com needs to raise another $12,000 in donations by January 1 to continue operation in 2009.
If we cannot meet this goal, this site will go offline January 1. Please click here to donate

Ptychosperma ambiguum

Description

[ Back to top ]

Genus Ptychosperma

Stems solitary or clustereding, less than 15 cm in diam., unarmed . Leaves: sheath green, unarmed, forming crownshaft ; blade pinnate, unarmed; plication reduplicate ; segments in 1 plane , usually cuneate, apices jagged and irregular, cleft . Inflorescences axillary below crown of leaves, paniculate , with 2 or 3 orders of branching, pendulous; prophyll short; peduncular bract tubular ; secondary peduncular bracts often present, incomplete . Flowers unisexual , sessile, in triads of 1 pistillate flower flanked by 2 staminate flowers . Staminate flowers: sepals 3, imbricate, free ; petals 3, valvate , free; stamens [9--]25--34 [or more], in whorls of 3 or more; pistillode present, with slender style . Pistillate flowers: sepals 3, imbricate, free; petals 3, imbricate, free; staminode lobes or scales present; pistils 1; ovules 1; styles indistinct; stigmas 3. Fruits drupes, small; exocarp red [black], smooth ; mesocarp fleshy ; endocarp bony, 5-lobed in cross section [obscurely lobed ]. Seeds ovoid ; endosperm homogeneous or ruminate ; embryo basal; eophyll 2-cleft, segments linear , apices jagged and irregular.

Species 28: introduced ; Florida; Pacific Islands, Australia.

This genus is popular in cultivation. Two species have sporadically naturalized sporadically in Dade County, Florida. The fruits are red and fleshy, and birds undoubtedly disperse the seeds."Ptychosperma". in Flora of North America Vol. 22 Page 118. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Physical Description

Habit: Evergreen .

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 12-15' tall.

Biology

[ Back to top ]

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Similar Species

[ Back to top ]

Members of the genus Ptychosperma

There are approximately 77 species in this genus:

P. alba · P. ambiguum · P. angustifolia · P. angustifolium · P. beatricae · P. beccarianum · P. bleeseri · P. buabe · P. burretianum · P. caesia · P. calapparia · P. capitis-yorkii · P. caryotoides · P. coccinea · P. cuneatum · P. cunninghamiana · P. disticha · P. drudei · P. elegans (Solitaire Palm) · P. elegans var. sphaerocarpum · P. furcatum · P. gracile · P. gracilis · P. hartmannii · P. hentyi · P. hosinoi · P. hospitum · P. inaequalis · P. jardinei · P. julianettii · P. junghuhnii · P. kajewskii · P. kerstenianum · P. kuhlii · P. laccospadix · P. lauterbachii · P. ledermannianum (Palm) · P. lineare (Palm) · P. macarthuri · P. macarthurii (Macarthur Feather Palm) · P. macrocerum · P. mambare · P. micranthum · P. microcarpum · P. mooreanum · P. multiramosum · P. nenga · P. nicolai · P. normanbyi · P. palauense · P. paradoxa · P. perbreve · P. pickeringii · P. praemorsum · P. propinquum · P. pullenii · P. ramosissimum · P. robustum (Palm) · P. rosselense · P. rumphii · P. rupicola · P. salomonense · P. sanderanum · P. sanderiana · P. sanderianum · P. schefferi · P. seaforthia · P. seemannii · P. streimannii · P. tagulense · P. tahitensis · P. vestitum · P. vitiensis · P. waitianum (Giant Palm) · P. wendlandiana var. sphaerocarpum · P. wendlandiana var. wendlandiana · P. wendlandianum

Bibliography

[ Back to top ]

More Info

[ Back to top ]

Notes

[ Back to top ]

Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

Last Revised: 2008-09-06