Arecaceae
Areca

Areca novohibernica (Lauterb.) Becc.

First published in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 52: 23 (1914)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Bismarck Archipelago to Solomon Islands. It is a shrub or tree and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Baker, W.J., Barfod, A.S., Cámara-Leret, R., Dowe, J.L., Heatubun, C.D., Petoe, P., Turner, J.H., Zona, S. & Dransfield, J. (2024) Palms of New Guinea. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond. 726 pp.

Morphology General Habit
Slender, single-stemmed tree palm, to 4(–5) m, with stilt-roots, 5–8 leaves in crown
Morphology Stem
Stem to 10 cm diam. Leaf 1.2–1.5 m long (including petiole); crownshaft 60–90 cm long, pale to mid-green; petiole 30–50 cm long; leaflets more or less regularly arranged, ca. 5 leaflets on each side of rachis, slightly sigmoid, each comprising 3–15 folds
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence 15–36 × 14–30 cm, protandrous, branched to 1 order (sometimes basally branched to 2 orders), divaricate, erect at anthesis, pendulous in fruit; rachilla 7–16 cm long, 2–4 mm wide, 10–21, greenish-cream to green, triads spirally arranged on the rachilla, complete triads occurring from base up to half the length of the rachilla
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Male flower 5.2–6.5 × 2.5–2.7 mm, stamens 6 Female flower 8–9 × 7.0–7.5 mm
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit 3.2–4.0 × 1.6–2.0 × 1.5–2.0 cm, ellipsoid to slightly ovoid, mesocarp fleshy and juicy
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds 1.2–1.5 × 1.0–1.5 cm, globose to ellipsoid, rounded apically, flattened basally.
Distribution
Bismarck Archipelago (Manus, New Britain and New Ireland) and the Solomon Islands.
Ecology
Forest on volcanic and limestone soils at 10–1350 m.
Vernacular
None recorded.
Conservation
Endangered. Areca novohibernica is an island species and logging concessions are a major threat within its range.
Note
Areca novohibernica is immediately distingui- shed from other New Guinea species in the consistent presence of stilt roots, in the spirally arranged triads on the rachillae and in the juicy fleshy fruit. It is most similar to A. vestiaria Giseke of Sulawesi and Maluku.
[PONG]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/38188/10099820

Conservation
DD - data deficient
[IUCN]

Uses

Use
The fruits are used as a betel nut substitute. The species is an attractive ornamental.
[PONG]

Common Names

unknown
poaman

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • EBC Common Names

    • Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Palms of New Guinea

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0