Kentiopsis pyriformis

From Palmpedia - Palm Grower's Guide
Revision as of 20:45, 15 November 2014 by Dypsisdean (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search
Kentiopsis (Kent-ee-OHP-sis) pyriformis (py-rih-FOR-mis)
Kentpy04.jpg
Port Boisé, New Caledonia.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Kentiopsis (Kent-ee-OHP-sis)
Species: pyriformis (py-rih-FOR-mis)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
Oceania
Oceania.gif
Morphology
Habit: Solitary
Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
None.

Habitat and Distribution

Endemic to New Caledonia. Kentiopsis pyriformis, ranges from along the east coast of New Caledonia south of Yaté, where it occurs in a fringe of forest 20 km. long, and 100-500 m. wide, from Touaourou to Goro villages at 5-100 m. elevation, inland to the southwest about 11.5 air kilometers distant, in remnant patches of forest at about 200 m. elevation, at the southern end of Monts Nengone, near Port Boisé. The main population is at Goro on a steep, unstable, rocky slope, above the mouth of Kuebini River. (J.-C. Pintaud and D. Hodel. 1998)

Port Boisé, New Caledonia.

Ecology: A more or less gregarious subcanopy to canopy species, Kentiopsis pyriformis is found in lowland rain forest, on ultramafic rocks, both on oxydic colluvium on flat land, and steep, rocky, eroded slopes of peridotitic mountains and hills. The largest and more gregarious population at the Kuebini River near Goro, grows with other palms including Actinokentia divaricata, Basselinia pancheri, Clinosperma bracteale, and Cyphokentia macrostachya. The population near Port Boisé is much smaller, and the individuals more scattered. Associated palms there include A. divaricata, B. gracilis, B. pancheri, and Chambeyronia nmacrocarpa. (J.-C. Pintaud and D. Hodel. 1998)/Palmweb.

Description

Subcanopy to emergent palm. Trunk l0-18 m. tall, 1O-22 cm. in diam. below head, brown becoming gray, sometimes enlarged or bulging at the base, adventitious roots visible. Crown holds 7-12 leaves, ascending to spreading, moderately recurved or nearly straight; crownshaft 70-130 cm. long, copper colored or purplish red, with a thin cover of glaucous- white wax, and minutely puncticulate with tiny brown lacerate scales abaxially, splitting in the distal 1/4-1/3 opposite petiole, and there bearing small auricles 1 cm. long or terminatirrg on petiole with two wings l0 cm. long; petiole 20-45 cm. long (some times to 2.6 m. long in trunkless juveniles), glabrescent, green or reddish to purplish; rachis 2.5-3 m. long, petiole and rachis variously covered initially, by thin felt like indument of brown-centered, white-margined scales; pinnae 40-58 on each side, median ones 110-130 X 5-8 cm., proximal two pairs continuing into lorae, all acute, coriaceous one-ribbed, ascending and held in open V or borne in one plane and flat to slightly pendulous, green and glossy adaxially, midrib and sometimes secondary ribs bearing abaxially membranous, medifixed ramenta in groups of 2-20. Inflorescences 1-2, 60-100 cm. wide, spreading, branched to four orders; peduncle 6-10 cm. long; prophyll 40-50 X 20 cm., splitting into two halves; first peduncular bract 50-60 X 15-18 cm., beaked, slightly exceeding the prophyll, both bracts pale green or dark purple, glabrescent to variously tomentose abaxially; rachis 30-40 cm. long with l0 main branches 2-10 cm. long, 1-4 cm. wide, sharply angled, dorsiventrally flattened, brownish green to bright purple; peduncle and rachis with thin indument of brown centered, white-margined minute scales; bracts subtending branches small, triangular-obtuse to acuminate and finally reduced to a ridge; rachillae 100-400, slender, 20-30 cm. long, 0.5 cm. in diameter, folded and mucilaginous in inflorescence bud, rounded, glabrescent, very pale green to cream-colored in bud, becoming brown or dark purple. Flowers in horizontal triads are of a central pistillate flower, flanked by two medianlateral earlier-opening staminate flowers; triads in proximal 2/3 and sometimes nearly to apex of rachillae, paired staminate flowers only distally, or sometimes paired staminate flowers on unisexual rachillae; bracts subtending triads a thin, rounded, sharp-edged lip to 1 mm. high; staminate flowers in bud 6 x 3.5-4 mm., glossy brown, almost symmetrical; calyx 2.5 mm. high and 3.5 mm. in diameter, cupular, sepals keel-like, truncate or broadly rounded apically; petals ovate, boat-shaped, spreading at anthesis, adnate to the receptacle basally and with a swollen pulvinus just above, pinkish adaxially; stamens 11-20, just exceeding petals, filaments free or nearly so, 2.5 mm. long, slender, slightly fluted, white, straight, and not attenuate apically, anthers 2-2.5 mm. long, slender, dorsifixed 1/3 up from base, connective white, not tanniniferous; pistillode 1-1.5 mm. high, much shorter than filaments and petals, conical to columnar and fluted or rarely spindle-shaped; outer bracteole surrounding pistillate flower l-2.5 mm hign, sepal-like or not, inner bracteole 2.75 mm high, always sepal-like, sometimes forming a tube with the outer bracteole; pistillate flowers 5-6 X 3-4.5 mm., rhomboid and laterally compressed or globose-ovoid; calyx 4-4.5 X 4-4.5 mm., cupular sepals strongly bowl-like to cupshaped; petals bowl-like to cup-shaped, scarcely exceeding or much exceeding sepals; staminodes 3, 0.5-0.9 mm. high, toothlike, thin, membranous; gynoecium 4-5.5 X 2.5-3 mm., stigmatic lobes recurved, angled, laying between corolla lobes or shorto erect; ovule laterally attached or pendulous. Fruits to 17 X 7 mm., oblong, purplish pink, fruiting perianth 6 X B mm., stigmatic residue subapical; mesocarp with abundant, mostly elongate, but at times wandering or reticulate fibers not adherent to endocarp, tannin cells in a thick layer between fibers and endocarp; endocarp whitish, fragile. Seeds 10-12 X 5-6 mm., pyriform, rarely -t ellipsoid, hilum elongate, lateral raphe branches mostly longitudinal, anastomosing little, slightly embedded. Bifid leaves 5-6 before first pinnate leaf; trunkless juvenile individuals with distichously arranged leaves, becoming spirally arranged with age, petioles glabrous, glossy reddish to dark purple; "saxophone" growth present (this is a tillering palm). (J.-C. Pintaud and D. Hodel. 1998)/Palmweb.

Culture

Comments and Curiosities



External Links

References

Phonetic spelling of Latin names by edric.

Special thanks to Geoff Stein, (Palmbob) for his hundreds of photos.

Special thanks to Palmweb.org, Dr. John Dransfield, Dr. Bill Baker & team, for their volumes of information and photos.

Glossary of Palm Terms; Based on the glossary in Dransfield, J., N.W. Uhl, C.B. Asmussen-Lange, W.J. Baker, M.M. Harley & C.E. Lewis. 2008. Genera Palmarum - Evolution and Classification of the Palms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. All images copyright of the artists and photographers (see images for credits).

Pintaud, J.-C. & Hodel, D. 1998. A Revision of Kentiopsis, a Genus Endemic to New Caledonia. Principes 42(1) 32-33, 41-53.
Many Special Thanks to Ed Vaile for his long hours of tireless editing and numerous contributions.

Banner1B
Back to Palm Encyclopedia


Retrieved from "https://palmpedia.net/wiki/index.php5?title=Kentiopsis_pyriformis&oldid=107176"