CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Science & Nature

Chamaedorea elegans

species of plant

Specimen drawers, botanical folios and brass scientific instruments under study light
Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ660200 ↗
Source-derived summary

Chamaedorea elegans, the neanthe bella palm or parlour palm, is a species of small palm tree native to the rainforests in Southern Mexico and Guatemala. The parlor palm is one of the most extensively sold houseplant palms in the world. It is one of several species with leaves that are harvested as xate.

This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Description

A woody, rhizomatous plant with a slender green trunk, it is found in tropical areas and grows to 2–3 m (6 ft 7 in – 9 ft 10 in) tall (rarely to 4–5 m (13–16 ft)). It has 1.2 centimetres (1⁄2 in)-long ringed stigma, punctured crescent-shaped leaves, erect buds, and flexible tubular stems without spines with generally pinnate foliage. The crown carries 3-10 long-leaf pinnate leaves (more when mature). A remarkable feature of this species is the early age of the onset of flowering, with some plants blooming with a height of only 30 centimetres (12 in).

The small, light yellow, yellow, or orange-red odorous flowers appear on irregularly branched peduncles that grow below or among the leaf. They emerge from the trunk as lateral buds and open in the form of clusters of small balls without petals.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Chamaedorea elegans” is species of plant. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Chamaedorea, elegans and species, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current 204-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Chamaedorea, elegans and species is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “species of plant” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q660200. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
Verify next

Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Chamaedorea elegans”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Chamaedorea elegans primary sources, Chamaedorea elegans archive and Chamaedorea research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Chamaedorea elegans”?
  2. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
  3. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Chamaedorea elegans” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.