Inventory of ornamental palms grown in Metropolitan Lima, Lima region, Peru

Abstract

The ornamental palm trees cultivated in Metropolitan Lima are important elements in the urban landscape of the city. This work is presented in order to carry out an inventory of ornamental palm trees in the City of Lima and discuss their implications; Visits were made to the different botanical gardens and parks, taking photographs for their identification. There were 56 species of palm trees cultivated in Metropolitan Lima; subfamily Arecoideae present 34 species, followed by Coryphoideae with 22 species and Ceroxyloideae with 2 species; most were found in the adult development phase, only 9 species in the juvenile phase. 11 species are native to Peru, 6 species are distributed in South America and 10 species are from Central and North America. During the last decades the cultivation of palm trees has increased in private parks and gardens and in public and private institutions. The greatest presence of species occurs in botanical gardens.