Pigafetta

{{Short description|Genus of palms}}

{{For|the navigator this tree is named after|Antonio Pigafetta}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image = Pigaf elat 160315-0446 mms.JPG

|display_parents = 3

|taxon = Pigafetta

|authority = (Blume) Becc.

|subdivision_ranks = Species

|subdivision =

{{Linked species list

| Pigafetta elata | (Giseke) Becc.

| Pigafetta filaris| (Mart.) H.Wendl.

}}

}}

Pigafetta is a genus of two palm species in the family Arecaceae.{{cite web|url=http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Pigafetta_elata|title=Pigafetta|website=Palmpedia.net}}

They are native to the Maluku Islands, Sulawesi, and New Guinea[https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:31437-1 Plants of the World Online: Pigafetta (Blume) Becc. (retrieved 30 March 2020)] where they grow near rivers and in forest clearings up to 900 m in elevation. It is named after Antonio Pigafetta and is sometimes misspelled as Pigafettia. Thought to contain only one species, in 1994 it was found to have two; P. elata and P. filaris, both of which are among the fastest growing palms. Pigafetta elata, planted in Tahiti by palm expert Donald R. Hodel in 1981, had by 1990, grown to {{cvt|16|m}} height.{{cite journal | last= Hodel | first= Donald R. | date= July 1993 | title= Growth of Some Palms in Tahiti | journal= Principes | volume= 37 | issue= 3 |page= 137 Table 1 }} Another P. elata, seen growing at the Sibolangit Botanic Garden in Sumatra by botanical explorer David G. Fairchild was {{cvt|18|m}} tall, but was only 6.5 years old,{{cite book | last= Fairchild | first= David G. | date= 1930 | title= Exploring for Plants | location= New York | publisher= MacMillan Co. | pages= 376-378 }} including photo with people for size comparison averaging {{cvt|2.7|m}} per year.