GEONOMA

Geonoma Willd., Sp. pl. 4: 174. 1805.

Small to moderate, monoecious palms. Stems cespitose or solitary, short and subterranean or longer and aerial. Leaves pinnate, or pinnately veined if simple, reduplicate; sheaths open and not forming a crownshaft; petiole short to elongate; hastula present adaxially on rachis, less often on petiole; rachis usually well-developed; pinnae regularly or irregularly arranged, spreading in the same plane, often unequally wide, or often leaf simple. Inflorescences interfoliar or infrafoliar, branched to 1-3 or more orders, or commonly spicate; peduncle bearing a prophyll and peduncular bracts, usually only one peduncular bract well-developed, or sometimes all poorly developed and not sheathing peduncle; rachis bearing 1-many rachillae; flowers borne in triads, sunken in pits along the rachillae, the pits arranged in tight or loose spirals, or decussately, tricussately, or quadricussately, with proximal and distal lips or distal lip absent; staminate flowers with 3, free, imbricate sepals and 3 petals connate basally for ca. half their length, free and valvate above; stamens (3-)6(-more) with filaments partly connate basally, the connective often bifid with free thecae; pistillode small; pistillate flowers with 3, free, imbricate sepals and 3 petals connate basally for ca. two thirds their length, free and valvate above; staminodial tube truncate or shallowly lobed at the apex, or digitately lobed; gynoecium syncarpous, unilocular, uniovulate; style basifixed; fruits 1-seeded, globose to ellipsoid, with basal, obscure stylar residue; seed with homogeneous endosperm and subbasal embryo; germination adjacent-ligular; eophyll bifid.