Cyphokentia

Cyphokentia
Cyphokentia cerifera
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Genus: Cyphokentia
Species: C. macrostachya
Binomial name
Cyphokentia macrostachya
Brongn.[1]

Cyphokentia is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family native to New Caledonia. The only species, Cyphokentia macrostachya, is slow-growing and monoecious; the genus is named from two Greek words meaning "tumor" and "Kentia", a former palm genus, and the species name translates to "large" and "spike", describing the inflorescence. [2]

Description

The yellow, green or gray solitary trunks reach over 15 m in height at a 20 cm diameter, slightly bulging at the base. The leaves meet the trunk with a 1 m, slightly-bulging crownshaft covered in tomentum and scales, giving it a brown to gray to white color. The pinnate leaves extend from 60 cm petioles at a 3 m length, recurved and bright green in color. The leaflets are over a meter long, obliquely acute, with one fold along a prominent midrib.

The branched inflorescence grows beneath the leaf crown, circling the trunk, producing tiny branches of male and female flowers. The male flowers have three sepals, three petals and six stamens, with three petals, three sepals, and three staminodes in the females. The ovoid fruit ripen to a bright red color, containing one ellipsoidal seed.[2]

Distribution and habitat

Cyphokentia macrostachya grows in New Caledonian rain forest, from sea level to 900 m in elevation in free draining, schistose soil. They are not tolerant of frost and usually grow in filtered light or shade until they reach the canopy top in their later life.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Brongniart, Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences 77:399. 1873
  2. 1 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. ↑ 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
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