Arecaceae
Chrysalidocarpus

Chrysalidocarpus baronii Becc.

First published in Beibl. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 87: 33 (1906)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Madagascar. It is a tree and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

General Description
Clustering palm in clumps of 3-5, rarely appearing solitary. STEM S 2-8 m high, rarely with a single branching point, 2.5-12 [-22] cm diam., near the crown 2.5-5.5 cm diam.; internodes 4-35 cm, near the crown as short as 1.3 cm, grey, grey-green or blackish; nodal scars c. 0.5 cm, faint, white; wood hard, with a dense layer of hard red fibres just underneath the bark; crownshaft to 10 cm diam., pale green to pale yellow, waxy, the unexposed sheaths peach-coloured; occasionally with the remnants of sheaths remaining on the distal part of the trunk, but usually the leaves abscising neatly. LEAVES 4-8 in the crown, spiral or tristichous, arching, the young leaves sometimes held on edge in their distal half; sheath 28-60 cm long, pale green to pale yellow, waxy, the unexposed sheaths peach-coloured, only distally densely scaly, with auricles to 2 cm high; petiole 0-37 (-53) cm long, proximally 1-2.3 x 1.2-2.5 cm, distally 0.8-1.3 x 0.8-1 cm diam., with dense but flaking red to dark scales, therefore appearing crimson when young, later with scattered scales, slightly channelled; rachis 0.5-1.2 m long, abaxially densely scaly but glabrescent, in mid-leaf 0.8-1.6 cm wide and keeled; leaflets 35-60 on each side of the rachis, regular, in one plane, dark green, stiff with the distal part pendulous, the proximal 19- 100 x 0.3-1.1 cm, median 25-49 [-77] x 0.9-2.7 cm, distal 7-36 x 0.3-1.8 cm, sometimes glabrous but more often with quite a few ramenta (2-5 mm long) proximally, on the minor veins often with scattered reddish bumps, these being the remnants of the quite dense bases of stellate-laciniate reddish scales on the minor veins in young leaves, main vein 1, plus rather thickened margins, apices bifid, unequally attenuate. INFLORESCENCE interfoliar or infrafoliar, branched to 2 orders, arching; peduncle 24-62 cm long, proximally 0.8-2.2 x 0.5-0.8 cm, distally 1.8-3.5 x 0.9-2 cm diam., glabrous, proximally red, distally green; prophyll 25-73 x 2.2-4 [-5.5] cm, borne at 2.5-22 (-45) cm above the base of the peduncle, erect, often hooded, dark crimson to pale brown, distally with scattered scales; peduncular bract inserted at 22-54 from the base of the peduncle, deciduous, 20-44 (-65) cm long, erect and hooded, deep crimson or brown, carried upwards by the lengthening inflorescence; non-tubular peduncular bracts usually 2, 1-6 (-17.5) x 0.6-1.4 cm; rachis 13-33 cm long, glabrous, with 5-21 branched and 7-10 unbranched first order branches, the proximal with a secondary rachis of up to 4.5 [-11.5] cm long and 4-13 x 2-6 mm diam. and with 4-9 [-15] rachillae, rachis bracts 4-20 mm long; rachillae 3-24) cm long, [1.5-] 2.5-4.5 mm diam., glabrous, pinkish to pale green, with distant or dense slightly sunken triads; rachilla bracts 1-1.5 mm, acute. STAMINATE FLOWERS faintly scented; sepals cream with brown tips and 1.9-3 x 2-3.1 mm; petals proximally white, distally red, connate for 0.5-1.8 mm, free parts 2.5-4 x [1.8-] 2.5-3.5 mm, often with swellings proximally on each side of the filament insertion; stamens 6, biseriate (offset 0.2-0.4 mm), filaments white, (0.8 in bud -) 2.4-4.5 mm long, 0.4-1.3 mm wide with the antepetalous ones flatter than the cylindrical antesepalous ones, anthers 1.1-2 x 0.5-1.4 mm; pistillode 1.4-3.3 x 0.6-1.5 mm. PISTILLATE FLOWERS with sepals 2.2-2.8 x [1.7-2.4] 2.5-3 mm, slightly apiculate; petals 2.8-3.5 x [2.3-2.6] 2.8-4.2 mm; staminodes 6, 0.4-1 mm; ovary 2.8-3.3 x 2.8 mm. FRUIT yellow, ellipsoid or subglobose, 10-20 x 8-16 mm; endocarp fibrous. SEED ellipsoid or slightly obovoid, 9.5-12 x 7.5-11 mm, pointed at the base, rounded at the apex, with a sub-basal depression, the outside slightly grooved; endosperm ruminate, the intrusions corresponding to the grooves, 1-1.5 [-3] mm deep and medium dense.
Distribution
North, Central and E Madagascar.
Biology
Moist montane forests, bamboo-dominated forests; usually on steep mid-slopes, less often on ridge crests; survives in half-shade or full sun; 850-1470 m.
Vernacular
Farihazo (Imerina, sugarcane tree); Tongalo (Betsimisaraka).
Conservation
Not threatened. The species occurs over a large area.
[PW]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/195967/2437377

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

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: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Uses

Use
Excellent palm-heart; fruit edible and sweet. Very elegant palm, cultivated in Antananarivo and on the plateau as an ornamental.
[PW]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

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

  • 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 2024. 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 2024. 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

  • Palmweb - Palms of the World Online

    • Palmweb 2011. Palmweb: Palms of the World Online. Published on the internet http://www.palmweb.org. Accessed on 21/04/2013
    • Content licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0