Eremospatha tessmanniana

Eremospatha (eh-reh-moh-SPAH-thah) tessmanniana (tehss-mahn-nee-AHN-ah)
Near Lélé village, Cameroon, September 2013.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Eremospatha (eh-reh-moh-SPAH-thah) Species: tessmanniana (tehss-mahn-nee-AHN-ah)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
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Morphology
Habit: Clustering Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
None.

Habitat and Distribution

Cameroon, Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. Eremospatha tessmanniana is a relatively uncommon species of rattan and is known from only three localities; the Takamanda region of the Cameroon/Nigeria border and cross border region of Cameroon and the Rio Muni territory of Equatorial Guinea. Further collections might link this disjunction. Eremospatha tessmanniana is a forest species found on well-drained soils in closed-canopy forest.

Near Lélé village, Cameroon, September 2013.

Description

Clustered slender palm climbing up to 150 m, more commonly to 60-80 m. Stems, often branching, circular in cross-section, without sheaths 10-12 mm in diameter, with 12-15 mm in diameter; internodes 15-20 cm long. Leaf sheath longitudinally striate, with black caducous indumentum; ocrea entire, horizontally truncate, extending to 1.5 cm; knee absent. Juvenile stems with sheath, 0.6 cm in diameter; petiole angular, 15-17 cm long armed along the margins with reflexed, bulbous-based, black tipped spines; leaves bifid, 20 cm × 24 cm, deeply notched, with somewhat rounded lobes; elaminate rachis present on lower section of stems, up to 80 cm long. Leaves on mature stems sessile, or very nearly so (petiole <1.5 cm), rachis up to 80 cm long, somewhat flattened proximally, becoming triangular in cross-section distally, armed along the margins with reflexed, bulbous-based, black tipped spines, with black caducous indumentum below; cirrus up to 40-60 cm long, armed as the rachis, indumentum absent; leaflets, up to 5-8 on each side, inequidistant, opposite to sub-opposite, linear-elongate to lanceolate, broadly attenuate at the base moderately rounded praemorse at apex, 14-18 cm long × 2.2.5 cm broad at the widest point, concolorous, somewhat rigid, coriaceous, armed along the margins with inequidistant robust black-tipped spines, reflexed and reverse-facing at base, forward-facing at apex, 5 to 7-costulate; lowermost leaflets smaller than the rest, lax, not reflexed; acanthophylls 2-2.5 cm long, slender, ± parallel. Flowers and fruits unknown. (John Dransfield, A taxonomic revision of the rattans of Africa (Arecaceae: Calamoideae) in Phytotaxa 51. 2012)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.

Culture

Cold hardiness Zone: 11

Comments and Curiosities

Etymology: Named after Günther Tessmann (born ? - 1926), German botanist and anthropologist.

Conservation: Vulnerable (VU) due to restricted range and localised distribution.