Based on the ancient name for Guilin and Guangxi, China.
Dwarf spineless and toothless clustering palms. Trunks short or decumbent, clothed with coarse fibres and persistent leaf bases. Crownshaft absent. Leaves fan-shaped, cut to at least three quarters, midrib absent. Leaf stalks with margins sharp and with woolly hair that is soon shed. Leaflets about 20, stiff, spreading, folded downwards, briefly divided again at the tip. Flowers unisexual, the sexes on separate plants. Panicles arising among the leaves. Fruit small, more or less ellipsoid, bluish-black, bloomed, the single seed flattened on one side.
Small elegant palms from low elevations growing on sparsely forested karst limestone hills. Recently introduced into cultivation.
Fresh seed takes 2-4 months to germinate.
Dwarf clustering palms with fibre-covered trunks and fan-shaped leaves with downfolded leaflets.
2 species in southern China, 1 extending into northern Vietnam.
Dransfield et al. (1985a), Dransfield & Zona (1995).
Source: (2005). Arecaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.