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Synechanthus is a monoecious genus of flowering plant in the palm family found in Mexico, Central and South America. Commonly called bola, palmilla, or jelly bean palm, they are closely related to members of Chamaedorea, only distinguished by their flower and fruit form. The Greek genus name is a combination of "united" and "flower".
Both are cultivated as ornamentals, requiring rain forest-like conditions to thrive, shade or filtered light, humus-rich, friable soil and copious amounts of quickly-draining water; neither is hardy to cold, requiring protection from freezing temperatures.
Synthechanthus palms are found in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. They are rain forest inhabitants, usually confined to the understory, from sea level to 1200 m.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Synechanthus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
