| Field notes | Stem solitary, erect, without visible roots, 9 m tall, 38 cm diam at base, covered with persistent remains of erect sheaths and petioles, these with 1 mm thick and 30-40 cm long spiny fibres on margins (i.e. remains of fibrous leaf-sheath. Leaves 15, erect but turning and arching at the apex but lamina remaining horizontal; sheaths brown, consisting of solid petiolar part and fibrous sheathing part, 2 m long, enclosing stem at the base (and completely on young inner leaves), 35 cm wide at base, 9 cm wide at apex, concave above, rounded below, margins sharp and with fibrous spines, these 2-3 mm thick and 60 cm long and pointing upwards; blade 9.2 m long, 2.8 m wide; rachis 9 m long, at base round below and flat above, with brown tomentum below, becoming flat below apically, above becoming triangular in cross-section; pinnae reduplicate, inserted on the 2 flat lateral surfaces of rachis, 166 per side, equidistantly inserted, 5 cm apart at middle, more at base, less at apex, dark green above with prominent midrib and obvious light green transverse veins, glaucous above, with basal proximal margin of each pinnae continuous into a 1-3 cm long spine over rachis, basal pinnae 140 cm long, 1.2 cm wide, middle pinnae 140 cm long, 6 cm wide, apical pinnae 38 cm long, 0.8 cm wide. Male inflorescence buds erect; prophyll erect and included in leaf sheath, 145 cm long, 18 cm wide, bicarinate, gradually tapering towards the apex, splitting irregularly on the abaxial side and then becoming fibrous, brown; peduncular bract 3.2 m long, 14 cm wide, round in cross-section, narrowly lanceolate, the basal 130 cm sheathing the rachis, woody, brown inside, outside darker brown and deeply longitudinally fissured, apical 65 cm, narrowed into a solid pointed tip, bract 1.5 cm thick at middle; peduncle 130 cm long, 4.5 cm wide, oval in cross-section, covered with a white mealy tomentum; rachis 68 cm long, cream-coloured; rachillae 135, subtended by a small bract, basal 5 cm sterile; flowers numerous, cream-coloured, in diads ; sepals absent; petals 3, 1 cm long, 1 mm wide, fleshy; stamens 6 with short filaments; anthers whitish-hyaline, 3 mm long. Old inflorescences with male and female flowers. Duplicates: AAU, QCA |
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