Campecarpus

Campecarpus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Subfamily: Arecoideae
Tribe: Areceae
Genus: Campecarpus
H. Wendl. ex Becc.[1]
Species: C. fulcitus
Binomial name
Campecarpus fulcitus

Campecarpus is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family native to New Caledonia. The sole species Campecarpus fulcitus is closely related to the Cyphophoenix and Veillonia palms with which it shares the island chain.[2] The genus name is a combination of the Greek words for "curved" and "fruit", and the epithet is Latin for "propped up", an allusion to the stilt roots.

Description

The trunk is solitary to 15 m in height, at 13 cm wide, supported by a nearly 2 m tall mass of stilt roots. Prominently ringed by scars, the trunks are topped off by a tall green to white crownshaft with a bulging base. The leaves are pinnate up to 3 m long with 1 m long, single-fold, dark green leaflets; rachis and petiole scaly to tomentose.[3]

The inflorescence is interfoliar, once or twice branched and hairy. The male and female flowers are borne in triads at the base of the rachilla and are solitary or in pairs towards the end. The fruit is slightly ovoid, epicarp smooth, mesocarp fleshy and fibrous, with one similarly shaped seed.

Distribution and habitat

It is restricted to New Caledonia's southern end where it grows in low, wet, mountainous rain forest and on serpentinite rocks.[3]

References

  1. ↑ H.A. Wendland ex Beccari Le Palme della Nuova Caledonia 28. 1920; and Webbia 5:96. 1921. Type:C. fulcitus
  2. ↑ Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. Portland: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-558-6 / ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6
  3. 1 2 Uhl, Natalie W. and Dransfield, John (1987) Genera Palmarum - A classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore. Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press. ISBN 0-935868-30-5 / ISBN 978-0-935868-30-2

External links


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