Lanonia magalonii

Lanonia (lah-non-EE-ah) magalonii (mah-gah-lohn-EE)
2014 Vietnam. Photo by Stephen Villiers.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Lanonia (lah-non-EE-ah) Species: magalonii (mah-gah-lohn-EE)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
Asia
Morphology
Habit: Clustering Leaf type: Costapalmate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
Cay La Ma Ca, La Non, La Non Nham.

Habitat and Distribution

Endemic to central

Vietnam. Near Da Nang City and in Thua Thien-Hue, in primary, broad-leaved, evergreen,

Vietnam. Photo by Stephen Villiers.

closed, montane forest on steep slopes on granite rocks, at 1000–1500 m elevation.

Description

Stems solitary or clustered, to 1.5 m tall, 2–2.5 cm in diam., sometimes short and subterranean. Leaves 6–12; leaf sheaths 14–15 cm long, extended above the petioles into 10 cm long ocreas; petioles 16–56 cm long, 0.6–0.8 cm wide near the bases, 0.5–0.6 cm wide near the apices, the proximal about half with widely spaced, recurved, brown thorns to 0.2 cm long; blades 44–48 cm wide, split into 3 or 4 segments, these with straight sides; costa terminating at base of split of the middle segment, with a ‘gland’ abaxially; middle segment much wider than the others, deeply split (to apex of costa) into 2 lobes (sometimes not split), these 33–41 cm long, 13–20 cm wide at the apices; indentations leading to adaxial folds 1 cm deep, those leading to abaxial folds 0.2 cm deep, indentations deeper on lateral segments. Plants dioecious. Inflorescences to 54 cm long, erect or arching among the leaves; prophylls11.5–18 cm long; peduncles 26–45 cm long; rachis 0(–14) cm long, with 1(–2) partial inflorescences, these branched to 2 orders, subtended by tubular, tomentose bracts; staminate rachillae 9, 10–14 cm long, 1–1.5 mm in diam., moderately covered with brown, felty hairs, scarcely bumpy; pistillate rachillae 2–7, 4.5–15 cm long, 1.5 mm diam., scarcely bumpy; staminate flowers borne in clusters; buds 3–3.5 mm long, oblong; calyx 1.5–2.7 mm long, gibbous, 3-lobed at the apex, glabrous; corolla 2.5–3 mm long, split for about two thirds its length into 3 petals, glabrous; stamens 6; staminal ring 0.5 mm long; filaments free for 0.5 mm; anthers 0.5 mm long, oblong, dorsifixed, non-versatile; pistillate flowers solitary; buds 2.5–3.5 mm long, oblong; calyx 1.5–2 mm long, 3-lobed at the apex with each lobe splitting again as the fruits develop and becoming 6-lobed, glabrous; corolla 2–2.5 mm long, split for 1.5 mm into 3 petals, these spreading horizontally as the fruits develop, glabrous; staminal ring vestigial; pistil 1.5 mm long including a 0.2 mm long style, glabrous. Fruits 0.9 cm long, 0.7 cm in diam., irregularly globose, with reflexed perianth, color at maturity not known. (HENDERSON, A., GUO LIXIU, AND A. BARFOD. 2007) Editing by edric.

Lanonia magalonii differs from all other dioecious Vietnamese species in its slender, 1–1.5 mm in diam. rachillae (versus 1.5–5 mm diam. in L. acaulis and L. dasyantha), more or less green sheaths and petioles (versus with dense, black tomentum in L. hexasepala), leaves with 3 or 4 segments (versus 13–26 in L. centralis), non-dimorphic inflorescences (versus dimorphic in L. calciphila), and split middle segment (versus non-split in L. manglaensis). (HENDERSON, A., GUO LIXIU, AND A. BARFOD. 2007)