''Cyphophoenix alba'' is a species of palm in the family
Arecaceae
The Arecaceae () is a family (biology), family of perennial plant, perennial, flowering plants in the Monocotyledon, monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbing palm, climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly k ...
endemic to
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
. It was previously placed in the genus ''Veillonia''.
Description
The ringed trunks are solitary, to 15 cm wide and, in habitat, grow to 15 m tall. White to gray at the swollen base, new trunk growth is light green up to the loose
crownshaft
An elongated circumferential leaf base formation present on some species of palm is called a crownshaft.
The leaf bases of some pinnate leaved palms (most notable being ''Roystonea regia'' or the royal palm but also including the genera ''Areca' ...
which is densely covered in white wax and red to brown scales. The
leaf
A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...
is pinnately compound, 3 meters long on 60 cm, scaly petioles. The rachis may be scale bearing, the meter long leaflets regularly emerging from it, each with one fold, scaly and acuminate. The midrib and lateral veins are prominent, the transverse veinlets are not.
[Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) ''An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms''. Portland: Timber Press. / ]
The
flowering branch is borne beneath the crownshaft, branched to one or two orders, erect in bud and becoming pendulous in fruit. The short peduncle is waxy and covered in hairs, the enclosing prophyll is similarly covered, two keeled and beaked. The rachis is longer than the peduncle with spirally arranged, conspicuous bracts subtending long, tapering rachillae. These branchlets are stiff with prominent bracts subtending triads in their lower half with pairs or lone staminate flowers on the top.
The staminate flowers have three pointed sepals and as many valvate petals; the six stamens have strongly inflexed filaments with oblong dorsifixed anthers carrying elliptic
pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...
with finely reticulate, tectate exine. The pistillate flowers are larger with broadly imbricate sepals and valvate petals; there are three toothlike staminodes borne at the side of the ovoid, uniovulate gynoecium. The three stigmas are prominent and reflexed nearing antithesis; the ovule is pendulous. The ovoid
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
is red to brown at maturity carrying one
seed
In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...
with a basal
embryo
An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...
.
Distribution and habitat
It is found on
Mont Panié
Mont Panié is a mountain on the island of Grande Terre in New Caledonia, a special collectivity of France located in the south-west Pacific Ocean. At , it is the island's highest point. Mont Panié is situated in the Chaîne Centrale mountain ...
in New Caledonian
rain forest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
in
gneiss
Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...
ic and
schist
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...
ose soils from 200 – 600 m above sea level.
References
External links
''Veillonia'' on NPGS/GRINGBIF PortalFairchild Guide to Palms: ''Veillonia''DiversityofLife.org images
{{Taxonbar, from=Q8352998
alba
''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...
Endemic flora of New Caledonia