Trithrinax campestris or caranday palm is a South American arecaceae palm native of uruguayan and northeastern argentinean sabanas, where it shares its habitat with Copernicia alba among others. It is a very rustic palm that grows in arid, well drained, rocky soils. Its distinctive features are its compact shape, short green to grayish foliage, and trunk fully hidden by dry dead branches (coat) remaining from several previous seasons.
Morphology
T. campestris is a monocot flowering palm of relative low height (up to 6 m tall) and 20-25 cm wide stems usually covered by remains of earlier foliage that act as a thick protective coat. Caranday leaves are about 1 m long, palmate, rounded, with a very rigid and spiny petiole. The leaflet segments are rigid, dark green to a more blue hue, with light green undersides. These are possibly the toughest leaves among arecaceae. As habitat altitude increases the foliage becomes more grayish, this is typical of mountain carandays. Flowers compose highly branched inflorescences located at the base of the lower living leaves. These contain up to 100 white hermaphrodite flowers 10 to 12 mm wide. This palm flowers in autumn. Fruits ripen towards the end of the next summer. They consist of subspherical yellow brownish drupes, 1 to 2 cm wide, with a thin fleshy mesocarp and a fibrous endocarp. Caranday is monoecious, a feature common to the conifers but rare in angiosperms.Molnar, Sebastian. 2004. Plant Reproductive Systems, internet version posted February 17, 2004
Habitat
T. campestris prefers well drained, sandy or rocky soils (although it is ignorant to extended persistent flooding).Burkart, A. 1979. Flora ilustrada de Entre Rios. Col. Cient. INTA VI (5). Buenos Aires. It is very resistant to draught, and -9ºC/-15ºC temperatures when not in growing season; else leaves are promptly discarded. Seeds germinate quickly but later growth is mostly slow.
This palms are naturally found in groups, formations of several individuals or composing largue caranday forests where they present strong dominance. Its main environmental threat is deforestation or natural fire, caranday thick dry stem coats are highly flammable.Rojas, A. & Saluso, J.H. 1987. Informe Climatico de la Provincia de Entre Rios. INTA EEA Parana,Nº 14. Entre Rios, Argentina.
Usage
Leaves are rich in strong fiber, very resistant to tension. It is extracted to manufacture crafts as hats, shoes and fans. Whole leafs are cut and used as rudimentary brushes. Fruits are not eaten, however, an alcoholic beverage is prepared locally through their fermentation. Caranday palms are also appreciated and grown worldwide as an easy to keep, cold weather and draught resistant, ornamental small palm.
References
Other pages about Flora of Argentina
-Acacia -Acacia albicorticata -Acacia etilis -Aechmea distichantha -Antarctic flora -Arachis correntina -Arachis duranensis -Araucaria -Austrocedrus -Berberis buxifolia -Berberis darwinii -Billbergia nutans -Canna coccinea -Canna speciosa -Celtis tala -Chaguar -Chloroleucon chacoense -Chusquea culeou -Chusquea quila -Colobanthus quitensis -Coursetia brachyrachis -Coursetia hypoleuca -Cyathea incana -Denmoza -Deschampsia antarctica -Drimys -Echinodorus argentinensis -Eucryphia -Hackberry -Inga saltensis -Lemon verbena -Luma apiculata -Luma chequen -Magellanic subpolar forests -Maytenus magellanica -Nothofagus -Pampas Grass -Passiflora caerulea -Pfaffia glomerata -Pithecellobium grisebachianum -Pithecellobium pithecolobioides -Poecilanthe parviflora -Prosopis abbreviata -Quebracho -Senecio pulcher -Skottsbergia paradoxa -Solanum viarum -Spanish moss -Tephrocactus bonnieae -Tetragonia -Trithrinax campestris -Utricularia nervosa -Utricularia pusilla -Utricularia triloba -Valdivian temperate rain forests -Verbascum thapsus -Yareta -Ziziphus mistol
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Trithrinax_campestris
