| Field notes | Caespitose palmtree with 5 sterile juvenile trunks and 2 fertile older trunks reaching 9.5 m. Leaves on juvenile stems differ from those of the older and fertile ones in having longer petioles and pinnae inserted in one plane. Trunk brown, covered by grey and light grey crustaceous lichens proximally, glabrous with longitudinal splits; tallest trunk collected and described: 834 cm long from base to beginning of crownshaft, diam. at breast height 14 cm, basally with adventitious roots originated below, and splitting the superficial layers of the trunk. No. of leaves 7, one juvenile spear shaped leaf; leafsheath 59 cm long, bluish-green, the lowermost 6 cm encircling, the remaining part marginally splitting in fibrous mesh to 9 cm broad; petiole 16 cm long and 4 cm in diam., convex-concave in cross section, green with mixed brown lepidote tomentum and brown feltation; rachis 231 cm long, green with sparse black feltation; no. of pinnae 2 x 65, the basal ones alternately inserted in one plane and regularly distributed, the pinnae at app. 50 cm from base inserted in groups of 2 or 3, pointing in different directions, the angle in between to 45°, rachis here somewhat dorsi-ventrally flattened, cross section app. 50 cm from apex nearly triangular, rachis twisting app. 45°, apical pinnae alternately inserted in one plane and regularly distributed; pinnae white dewed green below and dark green above, central pinnae largest 71 x 5 cm. Inflorescence: at 3rd node below crownshaft, horsetail shaped with an erect short rachis bearing numerous pendent rachillae, few male flowers in bud remnant; prophyll and single sheathing bract deciduous; peduncle 1 cm long and 3 cm in diam., oval in cross section, ferrugenously pulveraceous; rachis 3.5 cm long with 59 rachillae, rachillae to 42 cm long, ferrugenously pulveraceous. Bud with woody, 33 cm long prophyll, convex-concave in cross-section, splitting both abaxailly and adaxially, marginally with brown, 0.5 cm high, chartaceous carinae; sheathing floral bract 68 cm long tapering into a long pointed tip, green basally to dark green with brown feltation apically. Dupl.: QCA, MECN. |
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