Veillonia
Encyclopedia
Veillonia is a monotypic genus
of flowering plant
in the palm
family native to New Caledonia
. Its leaves resemble the Campecarpus
and Cyphokentia
palms, though its closest relative is Burretiokentia
, distinguished by small differences in flower form. The genus name honors the botanist Jean-Marie Veillon and the species epithet is Latin
for "white".
which is densely covered in white wax and red to brown scales. The leaf
is pinnately compound, 3 meters long on 60 cm, scaly petioles. The rachis may be scale bearing, the meter long leaflets regularly emerging from it, each with one fold, scaly and acuminate. The midrib and lateral veins are prominent, the transverse veinlets are not.
The flowering branch
is borne beneath the crownshaft, branched to one or two orders, erect in bud and becoming pendulous in fruit. The short peduncle is waxy and covered in hairs, the enclosing prophyll is similarly covered, two keeled and beaked. The rachis is longer than the peduncle with spirally arranged, conspicuous bracts subtending long, tapering rachillae. These branchlets are stiff with prominent bracts subtending triads in their lower half with pairs or lone staminate flowers on the top.
The staminate flowers have three pointed sepals and as many valvate petals; the six stamens have strongly inflexed filaments with oblong dorsifixed anthers carrying elliptic pollen
with finely reticulate, tectate exine. The pistillate flowers are larger with broadly imbricate sepals and valvate petals; there are three toothlike staminodes borne at the side of the ovoid, uniovulate gynoecium. The three stigmas are prominent and reflexed nearing antithesis; the ovule is pendulous. The ovoid fruit
is red to brown at maturity carrying one seed
with a basal embryo
.
in New Caledonian rain forest in gneiss
ic and schist
ose soils from 200 - 600 m above sea level.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
in the palm
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
family native to New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
. Its leaves resemble the Campecarpus
Campecarpus
Campecarpus is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family native to New Caledonia. The sole species Campecarpus fulcitus is closely related to the Cyphophoenix and Veillonia palms with which it shares the island chain...
and Cyphokentia
Cyphokentia
Cyphokentia is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family native to New Caledonia. The only species, Cyphokentia macrostachya, is slow-growing and monoecious; the genus is named from two Greek words meaning "tumor" and "Kentia", a former palm genus, and the species name translates to...
palms, though its closest relative is Burretiokentia
Burretiokentia
Burretiokentia is a genus of New Caledonian palms containing five species:* Burretiokentia dumasii* Burretiokentia grandiflora* Burretiokentia hapala* Burretiokentia koghiensis* Burretiokentia vieillardii- References :...
, distinguished by small differences in flower form. The genus name honors the botanist Jean-Marie Veillon and the species epithet is Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "white".
Description
The ringed trunks are solitary, to 15 cm wide and, in habitat, grow to 15 m tall. White to gray at the swollen base, new trunk growth is light green up to the loose crownshaftCrownshaft
An elongated circumferential leaf base formation present on some species of palm is called a crownshaft.The leaf bases of some pinnate leaved palms form a sheath at the top of the trunk surrounding the bud where all the subsequent leaves are formed.The crownshaft...
which is densely covered in white wax and red to brown scales. The leaf
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
is pinnately compound, 3 meters long on 60 cm, scaly petioles. The rachis may be scale bearing, the meter long leaflets regularly emerging from it, each with one fold, scaly and acuminate. The midrib and lateral veins are prominent, the transverse veinlets are not.
The flowering branch
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. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is borne beneath the crownshaft, branched to one or two orders, erect in bud and becoming pendulous in fruit. The short peduncle is waxy and covered in hairs, the enclosing prophyll is similarly covered, two keeled and beaked. The rachis is longer than the peduncle with spirally arranged, conspicuous bracts subtending long, tapering rachillae. These branchlets are stiff with prominent bracts subtending triads in their lower half with pairs or lone staminate flowers on the top.
The staminate flowers have three pointed sepals and as many valvate petals; the six stamens have strongly inflexed filaments with oblong dorsifixed anthers carrying elliptic pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
with finely reticulate, tectate exine. The pistillate flowers are larger with broadly imbricate sepals and valvate petals; there are three toothlike staminodes borne at the side of the ovoid, uniovulate gynoecium. The three stigmas are prominent and reflexed nearing antithesis; the ovule is pendulous. The ovoid fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is red to brown at maturity carrying one seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
with a basal embryo
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
.
Distribution and habitat
Found on Mont PaniéMont Panié
Mont Panié is the highest peak of New Caledonia with 1,628 meters. It is situated in the range Chaîne Centrale....
in New Caledonian rain forest in gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
ic and schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
ose soils from 200 - 600 m above sea level.