Chuniophoeniceae

Chuniophoeniceae is a tribe of palms in subfamily Coryphoideae of plant family Arecaceae.^[1][2] The four genera within the tribe are morphologically dissimilar and do not have overlapping distributions. Three of the genera are monotypic, while the fourth genus (Chuniophoenix) has three species.^[3][4]

Chuniophoeniceae
Chuniophoenix nana in cultivation at Garfield Park Conservatory
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Subfamily:	Coryphoideae
Tribe:	Chuniophoeniceae J.Dransf., N.W.Uhl, C. Asmussen, W.J. Baker, M.M. Harley & C.E. Lewis
Type genus
Chuniophoenix Burret
Genera
Chuniophoenix Burret Kerriodoxa J.Dransf. Nannorrhops H.Wendl. Tahina J.Dransf. & Rakotoarinivo

Description

Outwardly, the palms in the four genera of Chuniophoeniceae appear quite different. Chuniophoenix are small palms from the forest understory with clustered stems; Kerriodoxa is a squat, single-stemmed rainforest palm; Nannorrhops is a sprawling desert palm with branching stems; and Tahina is a massive solitary palm from exposed limestone outcrops.^[3][5][4][6] They differ significantly in their flowering strategies, too. Chuniophoenix species flower regularly throughout their lives (pleonanthic) and produce hermaphroditic flowers (rarely single gender); Kerriodoxa are also pleonanthic, but are always dioecious; Nannorrhops stems die after flowering (hapaxanthic), though the much-branched plant survives; Tahina produces a massive terminal inflorescence and dies after fruiting. All Chuniophoeniceae have palmate leaves with induplicate folds and tubular bracts partially enclosing the flowers.^[3][4][5][6]

Taxonomy

Chuniophoeniceae is one of eight tribes in subfamily Coryphoideae.^[7] The tribe is monophyletic and closely related to tribes Caryoteae, Corypheae and Borasseae, forming the syncarpous clade.^[3][7][6][8] In a previous classification, prior to the discovery of Tahina, the three other genera were placed in tribe Corypheae, subtribe Coryphinae, together with the genus Corypha.^[9] Coincidentally, Corypha and Tahina both share the strategy of producing a massive display of flowers only once before dying.^[6]

The four genera have widely disjunct distributions. Chuniophoenix (3 spp.) is found in southern China and Vietnam; Kerriodoxa (1 sp., K. elegans) is restricted to peninsular Thailand; Nannorrhops (1 sp., N. ritchiana) is found in parts of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the southeastern Arabian Peninsula; while Tahina (1 sp., T. spectabilis) is endemic to a small area of northwestern Madagascar.^[3]

Genera

Image	Genus	Living Species
	Chuniophoenix Burret, 1937	Chuniophoenix hainanensis Burret - China: Hainan Chuniophoenix nana Burret - China: Hainan and northern Vietnam Chuniophoenix suoitienensis Henderson - Southern Vietnam
	Kerriodoxa J.Dransf., 1983	Kerriodoxa elegans, white backed palm
	Nannorrhops H.Wendl., 1879	Nannorrhops ritchiana, the Mazari palm
	Tahina J.Dransf. & Rakotoarinivo, 2008	Tahina spectabilis, the tahina palm

Gallery

• 
  Foliage of Chuniophoenix nana
• 
  Distinctive white undersides to the leaves of Kerriodoxa elegans
• 
  Fruits of Kerriodoxa elegans
• 
  Silvery-blue foliage of Nannorrhops ritchiana
• 
  Seedlings of Tahina spectabilis in cultivation