Dypsis culminis

Dypsis (DIP-sis) culminis (kool-MIH-niss)
Madagascar. Photo by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Dypsis (DIP-sis) Species: culminis (kool-MIH-niss)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
Africa
Morphology
Habit: Clustering Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
None.

Habitat and Distribution

Endemic to Madagascar. Known only from Vondrozo forest, southeast Madagascar.

Madagascar. Photo by Dr. Mijoro Rakotoarinivo/Kew.

Lowland humid forest, only on higher slopes and ridge crests; alt. 600 m.

Description

Clustering undergrowth palm with 4-8 stems. Stems to 3 m tall, 1.4- 2 cm in diam., internodes 12- 30 mm, brown, covered in scattered reddish-brown pubescence in the distal part. Leaves 9-12 in the crown; sheaths 11- 13 x 1.3- 1.5 cm, longitudinally striate, covered in sparse to dense red-brown scales, crownshaft well defined, leaf sheath split to 4 . 6 cm distally, auricles triangular, 2.6- 3.3 ?x 0.2- 0.6 cm; petiole 3.2- 10 cm long, sparsely scaly, deeply channelled on the adaxial surface; rachis 49- 54 cm long, brown to pale yellow, minutely scaly; leaf blade entire bifid, 59 - 64 × 8.8 - 9.5 cm with an apical notch 7 - 9.5 cm, apex toothed, lamina leathery, abaxially covered in thin grey scales and very few small ramenta, main veins numerous. Inflorescence interfoliar, erect, branched to 1 order; peduncle 28 - 33 cm long, 3 - 5 mm wide, glabrous; prophyll about 10 × 0.7 cm, brown, sparsely scaly, keeled, inserted at about 2 cm from the base of the peduncle, open at 1.7 - 3 cm distally; peduncular bract persistent, about 24 × 0.6 cm, minutely to densely scaly in the proximal part, inserted at about 6 cm from the base of the peduncle, split to 3 - 4 cm in the distal part; rachis 7 - 16 cm long, pale green to yellowish, minutely puberulous; rachillae 6 - 9, yellowish, 7 - 13 cm long, about 1 mm wide, with rather distant triads. Staminate flowers with imbricate sepals, 1 - 1.1 × 0.8 - 1.1 mm, keeled, margins erose; petals 1 - 1.2 × 0.7 - 0.8 mm, valvate, elliptic, striate; stamens 6, equal, filaments about 0.2 mm, anthers medifixed, not versatile, about 0.4 mm long, pistillode trilobed, about 0.5 mm high. Pistillate flowers with imbricate sepals, 0.8 - 1.2 × 0.8 - 1.2 mm, slightly asymmetrical, keeled, margins minutely erose; petals 1-1.1 × 0.7 - 0.8 mm, valvate, striate, elliptic; gynoecium about 0.5 × 0.4 mm, hexagonal. Fruits not seen. (M. Rakotoarinivo and J. Dransfield. 2010)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.

Culture

Cold Hardiness Zone: 10a

Comments and Curiosities

Conservation: Critically Endangered [CR (B2a+b(ii,iii); D)]. Rare species, only two mature individuals have been seen on a single mountain ridge where the forest on the lower slopes is being cleared. NOTES. This new species has an inflorescence and staminate flowers comparable with those of Dypsis procumbens but it differs from this latter in its entire bifid leaves. (M. Rakotoarinivo and J. Dransfield. 2010)/Palmweb.