Jubaeopsis Explained

Jubaeopsis afra,^[1] the Pondoland palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family (Arecaceae). It belongs to the monotypic genus Jubaeopsis.^[2]

It is endemic to South Africa, where it is threatened due to habitat loss. This tree is a living fossil, being the last remaining lineage of the palm trees that were widespread in southern Africa in prehistoric times.^[3] A large living specimen is currently found at the Catamaran Resort in San Diego, CA.^[4]

Taxonomy

The etymology of the original species name caffra is related to kaffir, an ethnic slur used towards black people in Africa. At the July 2024 International Botanical Congress, a vote was held with the result that "caffra" related names will be emended to afra related ones, with the implementation of this being done at the end of July 2024.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Hundreds of racist plant names will change after historic vote by botanists . 10.1038/d41586-024-02365-x . 2024 . Callaway . Ewen . Nature . 39026072 . subscription . 8 August 2024 . 8 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240808163208/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02365-x . live .
2. Book: Klaus Kubitzki . 1998 . Flowering plants, Monocotyledons: Alismatanae and Commelinanae (except Gramineae) . 4 . The families and genera of vascular plants . . 978-3-540-64061-5 . 379 . Palmae . J. Dransfield . N. W. Uhl . https://books.google.com/books?id=bNQDsSmx2roC&pg=PA379.
3. A. E. Marvaldi . R. G. Oberprieler . C. H. C. Lyal . T. Bradbury . R. S. Anderson . 2006 . Phylogeny of the Oxycoryninae sensu lato (Coleoptera: Belidae) and evolution of host-plant associations . . 20 . 4 . 447–476 . 10.1071/IS05059.
4. visual reference
5. News: McKie . Robin . 20 July 2024 . Botanists vote to remove racist reference from plants' scientific names . 21 July 2024 . The Observer . en-GB . 0029-7712.