| Field notes | Solitary. Stem ca. 3 m tall, 2.5-3.5 cm in diam.; base swollen to 10 cm wide, no adventitous roots above the ground; nodes and internodes 1-2 cm wide (long); spines on stem to 4 cm long, black, dorsoventrally flattened, inserted on the top of the internode, below the petiole. Leaves 10, spreading; crownshaft 0; sheath of lowest leaf 30 cm long, open to the base, bending away from the stem, below rounded, green, with black spines to 3 cm long, above channeled smooth; petiole 20 cm long, below rounded with spines to 4 cm long, above shallowly grooved smooth; rachis 110 cm long, below rounded brown furfuraceous and with some black spines towards the base, above ridged and smooth; pinnae 9-13 per side inserted in couples at equal distance, except for the basal pinnae that may be singly inserted, all pinnae wedge shaped, plicate and irregularly cut at the apex, the margins with very fine spines; basal pinna 13 x 2 - 25 x 16 cm, middle pinna 33 x 15; the basal pinnae of a couple usually smaller than the apical one, pinnae on rachis 25 x 16 cm. Sheath of upper leaf 35 cm long, cylindrical, projecting 10 cm beyond the petiole, densely covered with fine brown spines to 4 mm long, sheath of middle leaves with a fibrous cylinder encircling the leaves within. Inflorescence interfoliar. Bud: prophyll 32 cm long, 3 cm wide, abaxially covered with fine brown spines to 3 mm long, adaxially smooth; peduncular bract rounded in cross section, brown tomentose, inserted at base of peduncle. Infructescence: Prophyll 30 cm long, as in bud but becoming fibrous at top. Peduncular bract obseised above the prophyll. Peduncle 100 cm long, 1 cm wide, brown tomentose and with black spines to 3 or 4 cm long. Fruiting part 30 x 3 cm with a rachis with several lateral branches adpressed to it and bearing fruits abaxially only. |
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