Linospadix apetiolatus
Linospadix (lihn-oh-SPAH-dihks) apetiolatus (ah-pet-ee-oh-LAH-tuhs) | |||||||
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![]() Mt. Lewis, Queensland, Australia. Alt. 1200 m. Australian Palms, By John Leslie Dowe. | |||||||
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Contents
Habitat and Distribution
Queensland, Australia. Confined to Mts. Spurgeon and Lewis, above 800 m elevation, on soils derived from granite in Simple Microphyll, in Vine forest.Description
Clustering small palm. Stems 1-6, 2-5 m tall, 15-25 mm diam.; internodes elongate, green; vegetative aerial growths from nodes common; crown with 6-14 leaves. Leaves 30-90 cm long by l0- 20 cm wide, simply bifid or with broad bilobed terminals and evenly segmented laterals on both sides of midrib and broader pinnae or with one lobe entire and running the length of the rachis and the other lobe segmented into pinnae; dull or semiglossy light green above, lighter green below, with a metallic sheen on both surfaces; midrib very prominent on both surfaces; secondary veins prominent on both surfaces; petiole absent or rarely very short to 3 cm long; lamina thick, opaque to partially translucent, when backlit under 10X magnification with scattered circular clear "cells" to 0.1 mm wide linearly parallel to midrib and veins. Inflorescence to 80 cm lons. Staminate flowers squatly bullet-shaped in bud, 2.8-4 mm long; petals with conspicuous longitudinal striations, apex shortly acute to rounded, green at anthesis, widely opening at anthesis; stamens 4-7; connective not extending beyond the anthers; pistillode lacking. Fruit elongate/cylindrical, 10-15 X 5-6 mm, yellow or red at maturity; epicarp moderately rugose when fully mature. Seed elongate/ellipsoid 9-10 X 3-4 mm. (J.L. Dowe. 1997)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.
The type specimen for L. apetiolata is Dowe 0369, Ferrero & Smith collected from Mt. Lewis, at 1220 m elevation. It represents some of the variation that occurs in the species, particularly those forms in which the leaves are bifid, with one lobe entire and running the full length of the rachis, the other lobe segmented into pinnae. Some forms retain the bifid leaf into maturity while others have leaves which are evenly pinnate though with the apical segments united to remain strongly bilobed, and the basal pinnae either slightly broader or much broader than the laterals. (J.L. Dowe. 1997)/Palmweb.
Culture
Comments and Curiosities
Etymology: In reference to the lack of a petiole on the leaf. (J.L. Dowe. 1997)/Palmweb.
Conservation: Listed as K (Queensland Herbarium 1994) but here proposed as rare. (J.L. Dowe. 1997)/Palmweb.
- IMAGE GALLERY
Mt. Lewis, Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, north Queensland. Typical habit for this palm is a clump of several trunkless shoots, and one or two elongated, trunked shoots, up to about a metre high. The extent of division of the fronds seems to be very erratic - they change from undivided to divided and back again rapidly as they grow. Photo by tanetahi
Near the top of the Manjal Jimalji track, at around 1,110 metres, in Daintree National Park. This is short-stature upper montane rainforest. This population of L. apetiolata seems more stemmy than the ones along the nearby Mt. Lewis road, which are largely stemless clumps. These are also in more light. The Mt Lewis ones are generally in very deep shade. north Queensland. Photo by tanetahi
External Links
- Glossary of Palm Terms
- MODERN BOTANICAL LATIN
- "Just To Be Clear"
- Click on Arecaceae, for list of photos
- http://keys.trin.org.au/key-server/data/0e0f0504-0103-430d-8004-060d07080d04/media/Html/taxon/Linospadix_apetiolatus.htm
- Australian Palms, By John Leslie Dowe
References
Phonetic spelling of Latin names by edric.
Special thanks to Geoff Stein, (Palmbob) for his hundreds of photos.
Special thanks to Palmweb.org, Dr. John Dransfield, Dr. Bill Baker & team, for their volumes of information and photos.
Glossary of Palm Terms; Based on the glossary in Dransfield, J., N.W. Uhl, C.B. Asmussen-Lange, W.J. Baker, M.M. Harley & C.E. Lewis. 2008. Genera Palmarum - Evolution and Classification of the Palms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. All images copyright of the artists and photographers (see images for credits).
J.L. Dowe, A Revision of Linospadix in Australia, with the Description of a New Species. 1997. 1997. A Revision of Linospadix in Australia, with the Description of a New Species. Principes 41: 192-197, 211-217.
Many Special Thanks to Ed Vaile for his long hours of tireless editing and numerous contributions.