Arecaceae
Plectocomia

Plectocomia assamica Griff.

First published in Calcutta J. Nat. Hist. 5: 97 (1844)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Arunachal Pradesh to China (S. Yunnan). It is a climber and grows primarily in the subtropical biome.

Descriptions

General Description
A high climbing rattan; stem clustering, with leafsheath about 3 cm in diameter. Leaves cirrate; leaflets up to 60 cm long, 6 - 6.5 cm broad at middle, whitish and scurfy below, non-filamentous at apices; petiole with stout marginal spines and smaller seriate spines on the dorsal side. Male inflorescence not seen. Flower branches in female inflorescence about 1 m long, thickly covered with rust-coloured tomentum; bracts on the flower branches distichous, cuneatc, oblong with triangular tips, 6 - 7 x 2.5 - 3 cm. Female flowers 3 - 7 in number in each bract, shortly pedicellate, bractcolatc; bractcoles 4-5 mm long. Fruits globose, slightly conically beaked, densely villous outside, about 2.5 cm in diameter; seed globose, 1.8 cm in diameter; fruiting perianth flat, not channelled at middle.
Distribution
INDIA (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh). Endemic.
Biology
A component of the moist hill forests up to 2000 m.
[PW]

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]

Uses

Use
Not used for furniture making. The tribal people of the forests use long canes for making hanging bridges over mountain streams and rivulets.
[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/

  • 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