Leopoldinia

Leopoldinia is a mostly monoecious genus of flowering plant in the palm family from northern South America (Colombia, Venezuela, northwestern Brazil), where they are known as jará palm or pissava palm. The two known species are commercially important, especially L. piassaba, which yields sustenance and construction material. The genus is named for Maria Leopoldina, archduchess of Austria, and Brazilian empress.

==Description== The trunks are clustering in L. major, occasionally clustering in L. pulchra, and solitary in L. piassaba; they reach 15 cm wide to 6 m tall, and are usually covered in old, extremely fibrous leaf bases. The pinnate leaves, up to 5 m, are carried on long, hairy petioles which disintegrate into black, fibrous masses against the trunk. The 1 m leaflets are once-folded, linear, regularly arranged, and either acuminate or briefly bifid.