Chrysalidocarpus pilulifer Becc.

Biology

Moist submontane forest; slight or steep mid slopes; alt. 750-950 m.

General Description

Solitary palm. TRUNK 8-30 m, 10-40 cm diam., 10-12 cm diam. near crownshaft, internodes 20-60 cm proximally, 2-3 cm near the crownshaft, green becoming greyish or dark brown, conspicuously ringed, nodal scars c. 1.5 cm; wood medium hard. LEAVES 4-9, tristichous, slightly arching; sheath 1.1-1.7 m long, 3 mm thick, abaxially green, pale brown to peach-coloured with some wax and with slightly sunken large (3-8 x 1-2 mm) reddish-tomentose scales, the continuous cover flaking and glabrescent, with disintegrating auricles of c. 4 x 6 cm; petiole absent or up to 40 cm long, with the same indument as the sheath but with only remnants of the scales present, 7 x 4 cm in diam., canaliculate; rachis 2.9-5 m long, in mid-leaf c. 2 x 1.5 cm, with small scattered scales, proximally canaliculate, distally keeled; leaflets grouped and fanned or slightly irregular, 70-144 on each side of the rachis, closely set, the proximal 56-160 x 0.5-1.8 cm, median 88-124 x 2.4-3.7 cm, distal 10-44 x 0.4-2 cm, glabrous or with minute scattered scales, with distant red ramenta, main vein 1, with unequally acute apices. INFLORESCENCE infrafoliar, branched to 3-4 orders, erect in bud, pendulous in fruit; peduncle c. 23 cm long, 8 x 3.5 cm diam.; prophyll 40-50 x 9-15 cm, borne at c. 3 cm above the base of the peduncle, beaked for up to 10 cm, pale brown abaxially, chestnut brown adaxially; peduncular bract inserted at c. 7 cm above the base of the peduncle, 37-70 x 6.5-13 cm, split over its length but closed in the distal part which forms a beak 10 cm long; rachis with up to 20 first order branches; rachillae cream, (7-) 20-40 cm long, 2.5- 3 mm diam., with quite dense triads in pits. STAMINATE FLOWERS (from detached material) with sepals 1-1.2 x 1.5-2 mm; petals 1.8-2 x 1.4 x 0.7 mm, versatile; pistillode columnar, 1.8 x 0.7 mm. PISTILLATE FLOWERS with sepals 1.3-2.1 x 1.4-2.2 mm, hooded and rounded; petals 2-2.9 x 1.8-2.5 mm; staminodes six, 0.2-0.6 mm high; gynoecium 2-2.8 mm high, 1.5-2.3 mm diam., slightly asymmetrical with spreading terminal stigmas. FRUIT globose, 5-7 mm, with fibrous endocarp, the fibres anastomosing. SEED globose or nearly so, 4-5 mm, rounded at base and apex with homogeneous endosperm.

Distribution

Sambirano region, Marojejy, and Mantady.

Conservation

Vulnerable. Though the populations in the Marojejy and Mantady occur within protected areas, the harvest of the palm-heart continues, with fatal consequences for the trees.

Vernacular

Ovomamy (Tsimihety), Lavaboko (Marojejy), Hozatanana (Mantady).

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