Arecaceae
Rhapis

Rhapis micrantha Becc.

First published in Webbia 3: 220 (1910)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is N. Vietnam. It is a shrub and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

General Description
Stems to 1–2 m tall, with sheaths 17–18 mm diam., without sheaths 8–9 mm. Leaf sheath tightly sheathing the stem producing a neatly flattened appearance with coarse flattened outer fibers and finer inner ones at maturity, producing a diagonal lined mesh, ligule not remaining intact at maturity; petiole to 2.5 mm wide, margin smooth or sometimes minutely scabrid; blade with wide V-shaped almost semicircular outline, without a conspicuous palman, segments 5–7, folds 17–21, to 220 mm long, sides curved, tapering slightly towards base and apex, apices sometimes cucculate, usually oblique, with regular secondary splitting, primary splits to within 3–5 mm of the blade base, adaxial ribs smooth, abaxial surface of blade noticeably paler than adaxial. Inflorescence, male branching to 2 orders, female to 3; prophyll similar to rachis bracts; rachis bracts 3, sometimes with a distal incomplete rachis bract, bracts tubular more expanded in male than in female, overlapping the base of the next bract, reddish brown, darker at the base, in the male with tomentum on the outer surface, in the female with tomentum on the outer surface at the distal end only; rachis overall length to 190 mm, 4–5 mm diam., rachillae 16–60 mm long, 0.5–0.8 mm diam., in the male with tomentum, sparser on the rachillae, in the female glabrous. Male flowers to 3.8 × 2.4 mm; calyx to 1.6 mm, lobes to 0.8 mm, margin regular or irregular; corolla sometimes without a receptacular-stalk or with a short receptacular-stalk to 0.8 mm; filaments, shorter row to 1.6 mm, longer row to 2 mm, to 0.2 mm diam.; pistillode present. Female flowers, only immature available, small, globose to 2.2 × 2.3 mm; calyx to 1.5 mm, lobes to 1 mm, margin regular; corolla with a receptacular-stalk to 0.9 mm; staminodes present. Fruit not seen.
Distribution
Laos, Vietnam.
Biology
Habitat. Mountainous regions.
[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: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

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