Ornamental, Underutilized, and Vulnerable Palms - Genomics of Cultivated Palms - page 77

8

Ornamental, Underutilized,
and Vulnerable Palms

8.1 Attalea, Butia, Carpentaria and Ceroxylon

Attalea is an important palm genus of Brazil, Peru, and Paraguay. Piassava fibers,
extracted from the leaf bases of A. funifera , provide a good income to Brazilian farmers.
Attalea phalerata , commonly known as Scheelea palm or Shapaja, is a short palm, reach-
ing less than 4 m in height, whose leaves are used as thatch and whose fibrous seed coat-
ing is eaten when ripe. Microsatellite markers [1] are useful in the study of the dispersal
and spatial genetic structure of the A. phalerata palm populations. The markers also serve
in analyzing population genetics and parentage. Butia , commonly known as Pindo palm,
is native to South America in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. Most species
produce edible fruits that are sometimes used to make alcoholic drinks. ISSR markers [2]
reveal the interspecific hybridization and gene flow among species. Cross-transferrable
SSR markers [3] have been demonstrated by Nazareno, Zucchi, and Dos Reis in assess-
ing vulnerable species of Butia . Molecular markers reveal the gene flow, as reported
by researchers, among palm populations. Gene flow was low in Carpentaria [4] and
Ceroxylon [5] . Details of the above discussions are given in Table 8.1 .

8.2 Chamaedorea and Euterpe

Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti , also called Fishtail palm, is a slow-growing small
understory palm. The leaves of the Fishtail palm are long and attractive and hence
best suited for use as ornamental foliage. They are collected from forests and used
in the cut flower industry. AFLP [6] ; PRK and RPB2 [7] ; plastid regions, PRK, and
RPB2 [8] ; SSR loci [9] ; and allozymes [10] were used to understand the phylogeny in
the Chamaedoreae tribe. SSR loci revealed the inbred nature of the species and identi-
fied the spatial genetic structure of Fishtail palm. Cultivar Tamash has high diversity
and Columbia has limited allelic diversity. Genetic patterns reflect two major land-
scape events during the early Holocene (10,000 B.P. (Before Present)) and aridifi-
cation during (1000) B.P. [9] in the species Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti . Heart of
palm, also known as “palmito” in Brazil, is composed of the apical meristem of the
palm plus part of the immature leaves of the meristem. It is used in salads and soups
and hence exported. Two species of Euterpe E. olearcea (Açaí) and E. edulis (Juçara)
are cultivated for heart of palms. Allozymes [11] , SSR [12] , and AFLP [13] mark-
ers are used to analyze the genetic diversity of Euterpe. Shimizu et al. [14] isolated,