A palynological study in Geonomoid palms

In a previous palynological study in Cocoid palms the present authors (Punt and Wessels Boer, 1966) were able to demonstrate a rather strong but not absolute correlation between the pollen types and the staminate flower types within the genus Attalea in the broad sense. The existence of partly apparently primitive, partly very advanced flower types within the otherwise close related group of Geonomoid palms made it worthwhile to investigate the same feature in this group. The Geonomoid palms are usually considered to comprise 7-9 genera of monoecious Arecoid palms which share a large number of characteristics (Burret, 1930; Moore, 1966). The group is very obviously a most natural one. The generic distinctions are mainly based on the flower morphology, notably on differences found in the androeceum and pistil.