| Field notes | Stems cespitose forming very dense colonies, to 5 m tall, 3cm diam, light brown, internodes 3 - 4 cm long at the top, spines pointing upwards just below and at the nodes. Leaves 7, spreading, sheath open to the base spiny on the outside, 60 cm long. Petiole 30 cm long, rounded below, flat above, smooth below, densely spiny above. Rachis 90 cm long with few 2 cm long black spines below, smooth and ridged above. Pinnae 17 per side in groups of 2 - 5, more or less all in one plane, slightly sigmoid with little spines on the margins, basal pinna 45 x 4.5 cm, middle pinna 57 x 4 cm, apical pinna 50 x 12 cm. Infructescences two, interfoliar, pendulous, peduncle 20 cm long, flattened and curved away from the axis, prophyll 17 cm long decaying, peduncular bract 40 cm long, persistent, densely spiny on outer surface. Rachis 5 cm long, rachillae 15 with pistillate flowers scattered, 20 cm long. |
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