Chrysalidocarpus bejofo (Beentje) Eiserhardt & W.J.Baker

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

Vernacular

Bejofo, Hovotraomby (Betsimisaraka).

Distribution

Only known from Maroantsetra and Mananara, around the Bay of Antongil.

Diagnostic

palma excelsa foliis maximis foliolis aggregatis inflorescentia curta multo ramosa seminibus profunde canaliculatis distincta.

General Description

Solitary canopy palm. TRUNK 15-25 m high, 25-40 cm diam., near the crown c. 20 cm diam.; internodes 20-35 cm, pale reddish brown, near the crown 2-10 cm, dark green to ashy grey; crownshaft white, waxy. LEAVES 7-10 in the crown, sub-tristichous, porrect and arching; sheath 1-2 m, 25-40 cm diam., abaxially white waxy and distally dense red-brown scaly, adaxially peach-coloured; petiole 12-34 cm long, 4.5-15 cm wide, densely pubescent; rachis 3-6 m long, brown-scaly, in mid-leaf 2.5-5 x 1.5-4 cm, channelled in the proximal 2 m; leaflets 80-100 on each side of the rachis, in groups of 5-7 and fanned within the groups, group interval 8-10 cm, rich green, stiff or arched, the distal part often bent down, the proximal 90-200 x 0.4-1.7 cm and often with the most proximal pendulous, median 72-144 x 1.3-4 cm (interval 0.5-2 cm), distal 30-69 x 0.6- 1.8 cm, main vein 1, with few ramenta 5-6 mm long on the midrib, otherwise glabrous and waxy, apices unequally bifid, attenuate. INFLORESCENCE infrafoliar, branched to 2 (- 3) orders, 0.5 x 0.5-1 m, yellow-green with sub-pendulous rachillae; peduncle 13-20 cm long, 5-10 x 3-7 cm diam., green with scattered scales; prophyll 20-30 cm long, to 19 cm wide, borne on the peduncle at 2-4 cm, with scattered scales; peduncular bract inserted at 5-9 cm from the base of the peduncle, 54-91 cm long and 10-17 cm wide, with scattered scales, flushed pink or pale lavender, split except for the beak; non-tubular peduncular bract rarely present, once seen 18 cm long; rachis 20-52 cm long, glabrous or with scattered scales, with 15-17 first order branches, these proximally 1.3-6 x 0.5-2.2 cm diam.; rachillae 20- 44 cm long (to 73 cm in fruit), green, stiff, 3.5-10 mm diam., glabrous, with dense, slightly sunken triads; rachilla bract 2 mm long. STAMINATE FLOWERS scented like Sambucus nigra; sepals 2.3-2.8 x 2.1-2.4 mm; petals connate for c. 1 mm, free parts 4.1-4.5 x 2.3-2.5 mm; stamens 6, slightly biseriate (offset 0.2 mm), filaments 1.5-1.8 mm, cylindrical, anthers 2.2-2.7 x 0.7-1 mm; pistillode 4 x 1 mm. PISTILLATE FLOWERS in young fruit with sepals 2.8-3.2 x 2.5-3.7 mm; petals 3.7-4.3 x 4-5.3 mm. FRUIT with very fibrous endocarp, 20- 25 x 18-21 mm. SEED ellipsoid, black, deeply grooved, 17-23 x 15-20.5 mm; endosperm deeply penetrated, the grooves regular and dense, 2-9 mm deep.

Biology

Moist lowland forest; steep slope; 200-400 m.

Conservation

Endangered. Only known from two sites, where numbers are low.