From litus – share and caryon – a nut.
Small, slender, spineless and toothless solitary palms. Trunk very slender, rarely more than 3 m tall, eventally free of leaf remains and ringed with leaf scars. Leaf sheaths brown-hairy. Leaf stalk fibrous along the margins. Crownshaft absent. Leaves feather-shaped. Leaflets very narrow, close and regularly arranged in one plane, grey on the lower surface. Flowers unisexual, both sexes on the same plant. Panicles produced among the leaves. Fruit round to ellipsoid; pinkish to reddish or brown, 1-seeded, splitting along 3 lines (a few species of Syagrus also do this).
Closely related to Syagrus.
Seeds germinate 2-8 months after sowing.
Palms with a thin trunk rarely more than 3 m tall; feather-shaped leaves with numerous narrow close-set and regularly arranged leaflets; fruits splitting along 3 lines.
2-3 species native to Brazil.
Glassman (1987).
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.
