Lanonia centralis

Lanonia (lah-non-EE-ah) centralis (Sehn-TRAHL-iss)
Lanonia centralis growing in central Vietnam.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Lanonia (lah-non-EE-ah) Species: centralis (Sehn-TRAHL-iss)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
Asia
Morphology
Habit: Clustering Leaf type: Costapalmate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
None.

Habitat and Distribution

Laos, and Vietnam. From Central Vietnam (Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Tri,

Lanonia centralis: its unexpanded young leaves are prized by Vietnamese milliners. Photograph: courtesy Andrew J. Henderson.

Thua Thien-Hue, and near Da Nang City) and adjacent Laos (Bolikhamsay) in broad-leaved, evergreen, closed forest on steep slopes on shale, sandstone, or limestone rocks, and persisting in secondary forest, often occurring in great abundance, at 1,150 m elevation.

Description

Stems clustered, sometimes solitary, to 5 m tall, 2–4 cm in diameter, erect. Leaves 8–13 per crown; leaf sheaths 12–19 cm long, extended above the petioles into 7–14 cm long auricles; petioles 81–127 cm long, the proximal about quarter with widely spaced, recurved, black or brown spines to 0.5 cm long; blades 63–99 cm wide, split into 13–26 segments, with scattered minute reddish-brown scales abaxially, with straight sides; costas 2.0–5.7 cm long; middle segment split almost to the base of the blade (to apex of costa) into 2 lobes, these only slightly wider than the other segments, 40–45 cm long, 4.5–8 cm wide at the apices; indentations leading to adaxial folds to 0.5 cm deep, those leading to abaxial folds to 0.2 cm deep, indentations deeper on lateral segments. Inflorescences to 65 cm long, erect among the leaves; prophylls 15–22 cm long; peduncles 28–41 cm long; rachis 13–23 cm long, with 1–2 partial inflorescences (2 on staminate plants, 1–2 on pistillate plants), these branched to 2 orders, subtended by broad, flattened, densely brown tomentose rachis bracts, these splitting laterally; staminate rachillae 5–18 on each partial inflorescence, 6–17 cm long, about 1 mm in diameter, moderately covered with brown, felty hairs; floral stalks scarcely developed, solitary or borne in groups of 2–3, each subtended by small bracteoles; staminate flower buds 2.7–3 mm long, bullet-shaped; calyces 1.5–2.5 mm long, shallowly lobed at the apices, glabrous or with scurfy brown hairs at their bases; corollas 2.5–3 mm long, glabrous, split to their bases into 3 petals; staminal rings 0.2 mm long; filaments free for about 0.5 mm, approximately equal in length; anthers about 0.5 mm long; pistillate rachillae 5–19 on each partial inflorescence, 10.5–19.5 cm long, to 2 mm in diameter, hairy as the staminate rachillae; floral stalks scarcely developed, solitary, each subtended by small bracteoles; pistillate flower buds 2–3.5 mm long, oblong; calyces 1.5–2 mm long, cupular, 3-lobed at the apices with each lobe splitting again as the fruits develop and becoming 6-lobed, glabrous or with scurfy brown hairs at the base; corollas 1.5–2.7 mm long, split almost to the base into 3 petals, these reflexed at and after anthesis, glabrous; staminal rings about 0.2 mm long at base of pistil, with vestigial filaments; pistils about 1 mm long including a 0.3 mm long style, glabrous. Fruits 0.6–0.8 cm diameter, globose, whitish at maturity, epicarp smooth. Editing by edric.

Comments and Curiosities

Etymology: Specific epithet Latinized from 'la non' meaning 'hat palm' in Vietnamese).

A newly described species from central and south-eastern Vietnam. The palm used to make traditional Vietnamese cone-shaped hats has been elevated to its own genus