Arecaceae
Chrysalidocarpus

Chrysalidocarpus loucoubensis (Jum.) Eiserhardt & W.J.Baker

First published in Taxon 71: 1184 (2022)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is NW. Madagascar (incl. Nosy Bé). It is a tree and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Vernacular
Lavaboka (Tsimihety).
Distribution
Restricted to Nosy Be and Manongarivo Mountains.
Biology
Moist lowland forest, on steep mid slope; 10-200 m.
Conservation
Endangered. Known from only two sites, both of which are protected; but tree poaching is a severe threat in Lokobe Special Reserve (see Adany et al. 1994). HB has seen less than 25 trees in the two sites.
General Description
Large solitary palm. TRUNK 12-15 m, 18-25 cm diam., with basal swelling 20 cm high and 40-55 cm diam., with surface roots; internodes 10-17 cm long, pale brown; nodal scars 1-3 cm, grey; near the crown 17 cm diam., and the internodes here c. 17 cm long, nodal scars 2 cm. LEAVES 9-11 in the crown, tristichous, porrect to arching with pendulous leaflets; sheath 110-146 cm long, 20-23 cm diam., pale green with some wax, half open, without auricles or with slight auricles to 1 cm high; petiole absent or up to 18 cm long, 5-8.5 x 3-4.5 cm diam., channelled, green and with scattered scales or glabrous; rachis 3.6-5 m long, in mid-leaf 2-3 x 1.8-2.5 cm diam. and keeled, with scattered scales; leaflets 84-103 on each side of the rachis, regular, pale or mid-green, in one plane but with the distal part pendulous, the proximal 105-137 x 0.8-2.1 cm, median 105-170 x 2.7-5.1 cm (interval 2.5-4 cm), distal 18-30 x 0.4-2.3 cm, the distal pair joined for c. 10 cm, main veins 1, quite glabrous, apices acute and bilobed. INFLORESCENCE infrafoliar, erect and spreading, 1.3-1.5 x 1.2-1.4 m, branched to 3 orders; peduncle 25-34 cm long, proximally 6.5-12 x 3.5-7 cm diam., with scattered scales; prophyll 50-60 x 10 -13 x 4 cm, borne at 7-9 cm above the base of the peduncle; peduncular bract inserted at 15-16 cm from the base of the peduncle, c. 90 cm long, 14 x 9 cm diam., green with a white bloom, beaked for 6 cm; rachis 90-120 cm long, pale whitish green, with 18-22 branched and 15-21 non- branched first order branches, the most proximal of these with a rachis of up to 32 cm, at its base to 2.5-5 x 1.2-1.5 cm diam., with up to 21 second order branches and rachillae; rachillae whitish green, 24-58 cm long, 3.5-5 mm diam., glabrous; triads distant, in slight pits; rachilla bract small, acute. STAMINATE FLOWERS cream; sepals 1.5-2.1 x 1.4-1.8 mm, broadly ovate, gibbous proximally, keeled, acute to truncate, with ciliolate membranous margins; petals 3-3.4 x 1.7-2 mm, ovate, acute; stamens 6, uniseriate, filaments 1.2-1.5 mm long, thin, anthers 2-2.3 x 0.5-0.6 mm, dorsifixed, versatile, the locules parallel and obtuse; pistillode c. 1.5 mm high, columnar, 0.5 mm diam. PISTILLATE FLOWERS cream; sepals 1.8-2.4 x 2.2-2.6 mm (- 3.6 mm in fruit), broadly ellipsoid, rounded, concave, ciliolate; petals 2.7-3.4 x 2.3-2.5 mm (-4 x 4.5 mm in fruit), concave, striate, with membranous margins, ciliolate; staminodes 6, flat, obtuse, 0.2-0.8 mm long; gynoecium 3-3.4 x 2.2-2.7 mm. FRUIT ovoid, 10-13 x 7.5-9 mm, apex obtuse with an asymmetrical point; endosperm fibrous, the fibres slightly anastomizing. SEED ellipsoid, 9-11 x 7-8 mm, pointed at the base, rounded at the apex, with a subaequatorial depression; endosperm ruminate, the ruminations distant and 1-2 mm deep.
[PW]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/38517/2870280

Conservation
CR - critically endangered
[IUCN]

Uses

Use
Used in house construction; palm-heart eaten.
[PW]

Sources

  • 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.

  • 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