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Chamaedorea elegans

Love Palm

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Love Palm, Good-luck Palm, Parlour Palm, Neanthebella; German Zierliche Bergpalme

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Mexico - Guatemala

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised; Land, lowlands

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental palm

KEY FEATURES: Small palm to 2m. STEM to 2cmØ. LEAVES ~8, to 1mL; LEAFLETS 20-40, alternate, lanceolate, to 20x2cm. FLOWER white. FRUIT round, to 6mmØ, ripen black. cv. 'Bella' very compact, with leaves to 12cmL.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
	-	-						-

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-			-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Chamaedorea elegans Mart.
SYNONYMS: Chamaedorea humilis; Collinia elegans; Neanthe bella

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); LILIOPSIDA (=Monocotyledones); ARECIDAE; Arecales; ARECACEAE

More Information

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -
POSITIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Ornamental palm. Comments: One of the world's most common houseplant palms.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: S.Carruthers garden Muri (GMc&FS00).

References:
p.115 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.256 Hortus 3rd
p.240 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.777 Tropica

Data Update History (information):
zB02, zD05b

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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