Thrinax is a genus in the Arecaceae, native to the Caribbean. It is closely related to the genera Coccothrinax, Hemithrinax and Zombia.
Taxonomy
In the first edition of
Genera Palmarum (1987),
Natalie Uhl and
John Dransfield placed the genus
Thrinax in
subfamily Coryphoideae, tribe
Corypheae and
subtribe Thrinacinae.
Subsequent
phylogeny analyses showed that the
Old World and
New World members of Thrinacinae are not closely related and as a consequence,
Thrinax and related genera were transferred into their own tribe,
Cryosophileae.
In 2008,
Leucothrinax (formerly
T. morrisii) was split from
Thrinax after
phylogeny studies showed that its inclusion in
Thrinax would render that genus
paraphyletic.
Species
Thrinax consists of three species.
