| Field notes | Solitary tree, left in cattle pasture. The base supported by a 2 m high, 1.5 m wide cone of about 200 stiltroots, each root 5 -6 cm wide, first brown then blackish, spiney; new roots emerging at the top of the cone, the tips protected by a cap of flaking sheets. Trunk 21 m tall from top of rootcone to base of crownshaft, 37 cm in diam. at base, 45 cm diam. at 14 m height, 24 cm in diam. below crownshaft, smooth and covered with grey and red crustose Lichens. Crownshaft 137 cm long, dark grey. Leaves 5, petiole absent, the sheaths bends away from the crownshaft for about 20 cm along which distance it has a rounded abaxial side, and a grooved adaxial side and the margin between the two sides is lined with a 2 cm wide ca. 3 mm thick rim; rachis 470 cm long, 8.5 cm wide at the base, abaxial side rounded, adaxial side with two flat planes, below at an angle of 120 to one another, above at an angle of ca. 45 to one another finely ridged, rachis of young leaves covered with a fine dark brown tomentum; pinnae 21 per side, inserted alternately on the adaxial flat planes of the rachis but becoming closer to opposite towards the top of the leaf, the pinnae divided into 3, 4, 6, 10, 13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 13, 14, 13, 13, 14, 14, 14, 14, 13, 12, 10, 7, segments; segments linear, apex dentate, longest segment in middle pinna 118 cm long, shortest segment in middle pinna 46 cm long, main nerves with brown indumentum abaxially. Inflorescence buds 7, inserted at the 7 uppermost leafscars below the crownshaft, upper (smallest) inflorescence bud triangular, 10 cm long, 9 cm wide enclosed in 4 visible sterile bracts, first bract (the prophyll) bicarinate, finely tomentose and with a rim of brown hairs along the marging; second, third etc. bracts dorsiventrally flattened, but not bicarinate; second, third bud progressively longer with more sterile bracts visible; seventh inflorescence bud 210 cm long 18 cm thick, round in cross section, narrowly pointed at the tip, the base with 10 scars from fallen sterile bracts and with 6 sterile bracts still enclosing the bud, all bracts with fine brown tomentum externally and smooth cream colored inside. Inflorescence one of the male anthesis, the whole inflorescence cream colored; infructescences 3, olive green colored, peduncle curved, 40 cm long, 9 cm diam., round in cross section with 17 scars from fallen sterile bracts, rachis 26 cm long covered with densely inserted rachillae; rachillae 33, 34, 37; the basal 18, 18, 14, bifid, the apical 15, 18, 21, simple each rachillae ca. 150 cm long with ca. 30 - 50 - 70 fruits each, the fruit oblong, olive green ca. 2.5 x 2 cm; scars from fruits oval, rachillae olive green. |
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