Brassiophoenix schumannii

Brassiophoenix (brahs-see-oh-FIH-nihks) schumannii (shoe-mahn'-ee)
Fairchild Tropical Garden, Florida. Photo by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Brassiophoenix (brahs-see-oh-FIH-nihks) Species: schumannii (shoe-mahn'-ee)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
Oceania
Morphology
Habit: Solitary Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
None.

Habitat and Distribution

New Guinea. Rain forest from Sepik River Basin to Milne Bay District.

Nong Nooch Tropical Garden, Pattaya, Thailand. Photo by Dr. Scott Zona.

Description

A slender, solitary palm; stem 2-10 m. tall, 3-5 cm. in diam. Leaves about 9 per crown, spreading; sheath 30-50 cm. long, densely white woolly and brown puncticulate throughout, sometimes with an inconspicuous triangular appendage at the apex opposite the petiole; petiole 20-45 cm. long, densely white woolly and sparsely to moderately lepidote with brown punctiform scales and dark, irregular ramenta; rachis 130-300 cm. long, lepidote as on rachis, sometimes very densely lepidote around and on base of the Pinnae; pinnae 8-10 on each side, regularly or irregularly arranged, basal pinnae reduced and sometimes crowded, central pinnae cuneate, praemorsely 3-pronged, 38-68 cm. long on the midrib, 22-27 cm. broad just below the two deep notches, apical pinnae wedge-shaped, 3-4-ribbed, about half as long as central pinnae. Inflorescence branched to 2 or 3 orders, 25-74 cm long, 22-58 cm. wide, with peduncle about ¼ as long as the rachis, complete peduncular bract twice as long as prophyll and exserted from it at maturity; axes thickly dark lepidote-tomentose and somewhat white woolly when young, glabrescent with age; upper peduncular bracts 1 or 2, very small and ribbon-like or sometimes triangular to elongate, 2-7.5 cm Iong; rachillae 1.5-4 mm. thick in the middle, 9.5-28 cm. long, each bearing 28-60 triads and diads. Flowers cream-colored or yellow-green, glabrous or sparsely punctate; staminate flowers 7-9 mm. long, 3-5 mm. wide, with calyx about 2-2.5 mm. high, stamens about 130-200; pistillate buds about 6 mm. high and 4-6 mm. broad at staminate anthesis. Fruit yellow-orange at maturity, ellipsoid, 31-35 mm. long, 17-19 mm. in diam. when dry, outer part of the fruit wall drying in close conformity to the angled endocarp when incompletely ripe, but drying apart from the endocarp when fully ripe, endocarp 5- or 9-ribbed; seed 5-grooved with the lobes squarish or acute in cross-section, endosperm homogeneous. (F.B. Essig, Brassiophoenix schumannii (Palmae) in Principes 19. 1975)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.

Comments and Curiosities

Etymology: Genus Name honors the 20th century Australian plant collector, Leonard J. Brass, combined with the genus name Phoenix referring to a pinnate leaf palm in this context. Species Name Honors the 19th century German botanist, Karl M. Schumann, who first collected this species.