| Field notes | Solitary emergent tree palm to c.20m, diameter 25cm; stem black, glaucous green below youngest leaves/crownshaft; crownshaft 2m, c.35cm wide; internode distance 6-10cm. 12-13 leaves in crown, spherical crown; leaf sheath 50cm, glaucous with pale to orange-brown indumentum near leaf petiole. Leaf to 2.4m including 50cm petiole; 73 pendulous leaflets each side of rachis; brown-white indumentum on upper surface of leaf rachis, basifixed pale-brown to straw-coloured ramenta on underside of leaflets for first third-half of the leaflet length (end nearest rachis). Inflorescence to 86cm; branched to 2 orders; peduncle 12-14cm, 3.5-4cm across; 44 rachillae, to 53cm long, lowermost primary branch 58cm; one aborted inflorescence inside crownshaft to 86cm, 11cm wide. Sheaths used as basins for sago and also as plates, palm heart eaten, old inflorescences used as brushes, indumentum used as firelighter |
This record
Other records of Hydriastele costata