| Field notes | Solitary. Stem to 4.5 m tall, 3-4 cm diam., armed with downward-pointing, black spines to 7 cm long, base without above-ground adventitious roots. Leaves 8-9, spreading; sheath 22 cm, open to base, heavily armed with black spines to 5 cm, upper 10 cm curving away from stem; petiole 21 cm, rounded below, flat above, armed with spines to 6 cm; rachis 97 cm, rounded below, bifacial above, green, armed with black spines to 6 cm, especially on proximal part, and short black spinules, especially around the pinnae and on apical part; pinnae 14 per side, inserted in pairs or sometimes in groups of 3, distal one of each group longer than the proximal, all more or less in plane, plicate along secondary nerves, distal margin never produced, basal pinnae 10-12 x 4-7 cm, middle pinnae 24 x 11 cm (distal of a pair), middle pinnae 18 x 14 cm (proximal of a pair), apical pinnae 25 x 11 cm: Inflorescence interfoliar, up to 3 per plant; prophyll 35 cm, 1.5 cm wide, unarmed, cream at base, green in middle part, brown, fibrous, wilted above; peduncular bract tubular for 50 cm, broken off above, green for 37 cm, brown, fibrous, wilted above; peduncle 75-100 cm, 1 cm diam, straight, erect, densehy covered with fine, reddish brown spines to 1.5 cm; rachis 24 cm or often shorter due to breaking of apical part, densely covered with short, brown spinules; rachillae 4, appressed to and partly fused with rachis, 8-12 cm, basal part swollen, with densely packed developing fruits abaxially, apical part thin, wilted, staminate, with no flowers left. |
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