Kerriodoxa elegans, the white backed palm, is the only species of palm tree in the genus Kerriodoxa, in the family Arecaceae.Pooma, R. (ed.) (2005). A preliminary check-list of threatened plants in Thailand: 1-193. National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok.Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.Henderson, A. (2009). Palms of Southern Asia: 1-197. Princeton university press, Princeton and Oxford.Barfod, A.S. & Dransfield, J. (2013). Flora of Thailand 11(3): 323-498. The Forest Herbarium, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
It is an endemic species of Thailand, first discovered in the Khao Phra Thaew reserve on 11 March 1929 and described as a new genus and species in 1983.Dransfield, John. 1983. Principes 27: 4 It is dioecious, with separate male and female plants.
The genus name of Kerriodoxa is in honour of Arthur Francis George Kerr (1877–1942), an Irish medical doctor.
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