Pigafetta

For the navigator this tree is named after, see Antonio Pigafetta.

Pigafetta is a genus of two palm species in the family Arecaceae.^[1]

Pigafetta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Subfamily:	Calamoideae
Tribe:	Calameae
Genus:	Pigafetta (Blume) Becc.
Species
Pigafetta elata (Giseke) Becc. Pigafetta filaris (Mart.) H.Wendl.

They are native to the Maluku Islands, Sulawesi, and New Guinea^[2] where they grow near rivers and in forest clearings up to 900 m in elevation. It is named after Antonio Pigafetta and is sometimes misspelled as Pigafettia. Thought to contain only one species, in 1994 it was found to have two; P. elata and P. filaris,^[2] both of which are among the fastest growing palms. Pigafetta elata, planted in Tahiti by palm expert Donald R. Hodel in 1981, had by 1990, grown to 16 m (52 ft) height.^[3] Another P. elata, seen growing at the Sibolangit Botanic Garden in Sumatra by botanical explorer David G. Fairchild was 18 m (59 ft) tall, but was only 6.5 years old,^[4] averaging 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) per year.

Description

These dioecious palms have green, solitary trunks with widely spaced leaf scar rings. The trunks grow to 45 cm in diameter and 35 m in height; the leaf crown is hemispherical, or nearly so, with 6 m pinnate leaves on robust, 2 m petioles. Petioles are armed with 6 cm spines, gold or gray in color. Inflorescences emerge from within the leaf crown, to 2 m in length, and resemble those in Mauritia. The fruit ripens to a yellow-orange drupe, covered in scales and containing one seed.