| Field notes | Solitary palmtree; trunk with numerous 0.5-1 cm thick adventitious roots basally; trunk 1197 cm tall from base to lowermost leaf, cccovered by grey or light grey crustaceous lichens, diam. at breast height 22 cm, diam below lowermost leaf 30 cm,; leafscars visible to about 2 m above the ground; number of internodes 47, internode length 11 cm and leafscars 8 cm wide below lowermost leaf, internodal length 8 cm and leafscars 5.5 cm wide basally. One juvenile spear shaped leaf; number of leaves 15, erect with drooping pinnae; transition from sheaths to petiolar region gradual and inconspicuous, the two of them being together 192 cm long, insertion of sheath encircling 3/4 to 4% of trunk circumference; sheath outside black tinged green and black pulveraceous in patches, marginally with thick fibers embedded in dark brown, up to 50 cm wide wooly mesh; petiole 14 cm wide just below lowermost pinnae, with a deltoid, 94 x 13 cm, wooly ligule, looking much like the leaf sheath margin, but without the thick fibers; rachis 925 cm long, proximally concave aabove with a median ridge, narrowing into a rounded edge conspicous at 745 cm above the base; pinnae regularly and sunalternately distributed, longest one 165 x 14,5 cm; lamina pliated, dark green above, below ferrugineously tinged. Infrutescence: two, inserted at 6th and 7th node below lowermost leaf and opposite to one another, horsetail shaped, but bulky when carrying fruits; peduncle basally widened; peduncle and rachis short; number of rachillae 241, cream colored to 139 cm long and 1.1 cm wide, of nearly equal length, each one with 105 conspicuous scars and carrying an average of 25 fruits; calyx and petals persistent, brown, thickly chartaceous. |
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