- Family:
- Arecaceae Bercht. & J.Presl
- Genus:
- Phoenix L.
Phoenix theophrasti Greuter

[PW]
- Biology
- Phoenix theophrasti is found in coastal areas, either on steep calcareous cliffs and rocks within a few metres of the sea, or somewhat inland along moist valley floors, stream banks and rocky gullies. Occurrence of the palms invariably indicates a water-source. Salt tolerance of the species enables it to survive combined pressures of exposure to coastal winds and sea water.
- Distribution
- The species was first described from Vai in Crete, and is now recorded from nine coastal localities on that island (Turland et al. 1993). Since 1982 (Boydak 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987; Boydak & Yaka 1983) the species has been recorded from the Data Peninsula and Kumluca-Kara6z regions of south western Anatolia in Turkey from sea-level to 350 m. A third locality for Phoenix in Turkey was recorded by Boydak & Barrow (1995) from Gölköy near Bodrum. The history of this population and its identity are unclear but I consider it most likely to be referrable to P. dactylifera.
- Vernacular
- Vaion (palm leaf), (Crete), [Barclay (1974)].
- General Description
- Clustering tree palm. Stem to 17 m tall, without leaf sheaths c. 50 cm in diam., with leaves persistent in upper trunk, otherwise with persistent, diamond-shaped leaf bases. Leaves obliquely vertical in orientation, c. 2 - 4 m long; leaf sheath fibrous, reddish-brown; pseudopetiole 50 - 70 cm long; acanthophylls irregularly arranged in more than one plane, to 10 on each side of rachis, yellow to orange-green; leaflets irregularly arranged in one to two planes of orientation, c. 65 - 100 on each side of rachis, stiff, to 50 x 2 cm; lamina concolorous, glaucous, surfaces often white with waxy coating. Staminate inflorescences erect; prophyll coriaceous, splitting twice between margins, c. 45 x 8 cm; peduncle to c. 40 cm long; rachillae to c. 10 cm long. Staminate flowers yellow-white, with strong musty scent; calyx cupule 2 - 3 mm high; petals 3 (rarely 4), 8 x 3.5 mm; stamens 6 (rarely 7). Pistillate inflorescences erect arching slightly with fruit maturity; prophyll to 50 x 6 cm; peduncle elongating on fruit set, to c. 70 cm; rachillae to c. 80 in number, elongating on fruit set, to c. 50 cm long. Pistillate flowers yellow-white, with 3-lobed calyx cupule 2 - 2.5 mm high; petals 3 (rarely 4), 2 x 3 mm. Fruit oblong, c. 15 x 10 mm, green-yellow to brown, with sparse, mealy, sweet mesocarp. Seed with rounded apices, 11 - 13 x 6 - 7 mm; embryo lateral opposite raphe; endosperm homogeneous.
[PW]
- Use
- In Crete leaves of R theophrasti are used in Palm Sunday celebrations (Barclay 1974), just as leaves of P. dactylifera are used elsewhere.
Native to:
East Aegean Is., Kriti, Turkey
Introduced into:
Greece, Tunisia
Phoenix theophrasti Greuter appears in other Kew resources:
Date | Reference | Identified As | Barcode | Type Status | Has image? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mar 9, 1978 | Syaye, P.M. [PS/CR19], Greece | K000208682 | No | ||
Greuter, W. [7650], Greece | K000208678 | isotype | Yes | ||
Barrow, S. [38], Turkey | K000208708 | No | |||
Greuter, W. [7650], Greece | K000208679 | isotype | Yes | ||
Barrow, S. [42], Turkey | K000208713 | No | |||
Barrow, S. [41], Turkey | K000208715 | No | |||
Boydak [s.n.], Turkey | K000208714 | No | |||
Barclay [1802], Greece | K000208681 | No | |||
Barclay [1802], Greece | K000208680 | No | |||
Barrow, S. [37], Turkey | K000208716 | No | |||
Barrow, S. [38], Turkey | 65055.000 | No |
First published in Bauhinia 3: 243 (1967)
Accepted by
- Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Vladimirov, V., Dane, F. & Kit Tan (2015). New floristic records in the Balkans: 26 Phytologia Balcanica 21: 53-91.
Literature
Palmweb - Palms of the World Online
- S.C. Barrow, A Monograph of Phoenix L. (Palmae: Coryphoideae). 1998
Kew Backbone Distributions
- Vladimirov, V., Dane, F. & Kit Tan (2015). New floristic records in the Balkans: 26 Phytologia Balcanica 21: 53-91.
-
Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
-
Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
-
Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
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Kew Science Photographs
Copyright applied to individual images
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Palmweb - Palms of the World Online
Palmweb 2011. Palmweb: Palms of the World Online. Published on the internet http://www.palmweb.org. Accessed on 21/04/2013
Content licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0