Rhapis subtilis
Rhapis (RAH-pis) subtilis (sub-TIHL-is) | |||||||
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Rhapis subtilis (1978-01-01) / Singapore BG – N°78N01-0120. Photo & notations by Research Work Editor palMeir. | |||||||
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Contents
Habitat and Distribution
Cambodia, Laos, Sumatera, Vietnam and Thailand. Thailand — EASTERN: Nakhon Ratchasima; SOUTH-WESTERN: Phetchaburi; SOUTH-EASTERN: Chanthaburi; PENINSULAR: Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Trang, Songkhla. On limestone slopes, evergreen forest; alt. 40–200 m.Description
Stems to 3 m tall, with sheaths (6) 8–20 (25) mm in diam., without (3) 4–15 mm. Costapalmate, Leaf sheath often with coarse, flattened outer immature fibers obscuring finer inner ones producing a diagonallined mesh, mature inner and outer fibers of similar thickness producing a squared open, often fine mesh, ligule sometimes remaining intact at maturity; petiole to 0.9–3 mm wide, often bearing minute brown papillae along the margin, sometimes only at the base or apex; blade with Vshaped or semi-circular outline, variable in size, sometimes with a conspicuous palman, segments 2–11, folds 7–25, to 380 mm long, sides curved, apices sometimes cucculate, oblique, sometimes truncate, with dentate secondary splitting, primary splits to within 1.5–168 mm of the blade base, brown papillae along the ribs, mostly adaxially and at the base, rather thin-textured, abaxial and adaxial surfaces similar in colour, pale green, transverse veinlets very conspicuous. Inflorescence, the male and female similar in general appearance, branching to 1 or 2 orders; peduncle relatively long, to 220 mm, glabrous; prophyll tubular, overlapping the first rachis bract, relatively thin-textured, pale-brown to reddish-brown, inner surface usually dull, occasionally shiny (Thorell 30599), outer surfaces dull, mostly glabrous, tomentose sometimes on edges and keels; rachis bracts 1–2, similar in appearance to the prophyll, overlapping the base of the next bract; rachis overall length 65–280 (340) mm, about 2.3 mm in diam., increasing up to 4 mm; rachillae few, to 34–238 mm long, 0.5–1.6 mm in diam., male rachillae shorter than female, glabrous, pale brown. Flowers, relatively well spaced on the rachillae, large, coriaceous. Male flowers ovoid to 6.1 × 4.0 mm; calyx to 2.5 mm, lobes to 0.7mm with irregular margin, sometimes darkly pigmented; corolla marked with faint vertical lines of darker pigment, with acute lobes, narrowed into a receptacularstalk to 1.8 mm; filaments, shorter row to 1.5 mm, longer row to 2.0 mm, broad, to 0.5 mm in diam., keeled; pistillode present. Female flowers, cylindrical to 5.5 × 3.2 mm, often conspicuously banded; calyx to 2.2 mm with a pale basal rim, lobes to 0.9 mm with a dark, irregular margin; corolla with vertical markings sometimes less distinct than in the male, with acute triangular, black or black-based beak like lobes, with a receptacular-stalk to 2 mm, 3 carpels developing; staminodes present. Fruit to 9.5 × 9.5 mm, 1–3 borne on a short receptacular-stalk to 2 mm, epicarp shiny translucent, minutely papillose, with conspicuous black lenticels. (L. Hastings. 2003)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.
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This species of Rhapis has a relatively fine leaf sheath and prominent cross veins on the leaf segments, and rachis bracts usually with little or no tomentum. The flowers are well spaced on few pale coloured, smooth textured rachillae. It differs from other species in only having first or second order branching in the inflorescence, large coriaceous flowers conspicuously banded with pigment when mature, with vertical lines of pigment on the corolla producing a ribbed appearance and irregularly toothed calyx. The fruit is described as white or whitish on specimen labels. The conspicuous black lenticels on the fruit are often concentrated in the apical half, this is very obvious in L. McKamey s.n. 1984 (K). The large number of specimens seen enabled assessment of the variation in size within this species, from specimens with 2–4, short segments through to specimens with up to 11, relatively long segments. This variation was found to be continuous without distinct subgroups. The largest specimens occur in the peninsular of Thailand and include D.R. Hodel & P. & R. Vatcharakorn 1652, described as a new species in 1997 but which in fact represents the extreme end of the range of variation of R. subtilis. The smallest specimens come from Northeast Thailand and just over the boarder in Laos. The Sumatran specimens overlap with the smaller ones from Peninsula Thailand. (L. Hastings. 2003)/Palmweb. Tightly clustered, small-sized palm forming large clumps. Individual stems 2–3 m tall, 0.4–1.5 cm diam. (without leaf sheath remnants). Leaves 7–18 in crown; leaf sheath 10–15 cm long, often with persistent ligule; petiole 20–25 cm long, 0.15–0.2 cm across; blade 1/2–4/5-circular in outline, flattened, pale green abaxially as well as adaxially, varible in size up to 40 cm diam., splitting variable to 0.1–17 cm from hastula, segments 2–11, 7–25-folded. Male and female inflorescence similar, branched to 1–2 orders, to 30–50 (–60) cm long, prophyll and rachis bracts similar, overlapping not inflated; rachis 6–30 cm long with two first order branches, rachillae usually few, 3–25 cm long. Flowers 5–6.5 mm long, different sexual types of flowers similar, calyx irregularly lobed, evenly pigmented, male flowers slightly longer than the female and hermaphroditic ones. Fruit globose, 8–10 mm diam., borne on an up to 2 mm long receptacular stalk. (Palms of Thailand) |
Culture
Culture for R. subtilis is fairly similar to R. excelsa except that R. subtilis is tropical in its requirements. Cold weather may damage foliage particularly if the cold persists for a long time. The plants require shade and under shelter will not be damaged by cold nights even down to about -4° C. R. subtilis also requires more regular watering than R. excelsa, water so that the soil is moist but not wet. Even with plenty of water the plants may still suffer from burnt leaf tips especially when grown in containers. This palm suffers from one pest that does not affect R. excelsa, and that is spider mite, especially on plants that are grown indoors in warm dry atmospheres. Spider mite can be easily controlled by regularly spraying upper and lower leaf surfaces with soapy water or if you want quicker results thoroughly spray foliage with a miticide such as Kelthane, Dimethoate or similar and it is necessary to alternate miticides since mites are notorious for building up resistance to one chemical.
Comments and Curiosities
subtilis or siamensis
2-13 leaflets
(1) blades split to the base (if blades not split > R. siamensis)
(2) pointed apices of leaflets
(3) ligules sometimes persistent
(4) stem to 2 cm diameter, if to 2.5 cm only siamensis
Notations by Research Work Editor palMeir.
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Taxon biology: Very variable in leaf dissection, but easily distinguished by the relatively large flowers with leathery perianths. Rhapis subtilis was introduced into cultivation by Watana Sumawong of Bangkok during the late 1960s. At that time, Thailand Lady Palm was thought to be a miniature form of R. humilis and was distributed commercially under that name until 1984 when it was recognized by Dr. Dransfield and Ms. Fitt to be Beccari's Rhapis subtilis. (Palms & Cycads) Rhapis subtilis is the other fairly commonly seen species of Rhapis. At less than 2.5 metres mature height this species is easily distinguished from Rhapis excelsa by its smaller size at maturity. Rhapis subtilis has canes that are less than 15mm in diameter and smallish leaflets that are thin in section. Leaflets are also pointed whereas Rhapis excelsa usually has blunt irregularly toothed ends as regular segments of approximately the same width with corresponding leaves having roughly the same number of leaf segments (e.g. if one leaf has seven leaflets the leaf immediately above or below it will have either six or eight leaf segments). Whereas Rhapis subtilis has a varying number of leaf segments with varying widths. (Palms & Cycads) Rhapis subtilis is almost always grown from seed and it forms a fairly even, rather compact central clump of thin canes with suckers developing close to each other. On the other hand Rhapis excelsa is usually grown from division of offset suckers which spread laterally as sometimes long cane-like rhizomes. These differences in growth habit can be used to help to roughly determine which of the these two species you have at home. However this general guide is not always reliable since I have a palm which I believe to be Rhapis subtilis, but it is just over two metres high in a pot, has canes that are up to 25mm in diameter, leaves are relatively small, leaf segments are irregular in number and width and thin in section. (Palms & Cycads) "Rhapis subtilis is supposedly the dwarf species of the Rhapis (of the commonly grown ones, that is), but I have seen clumps of this plant in Hawaii growing at least 10 feet tall. This species usually has pointed leaflets, but there are blunt-tipped leaflet forms/cultivars. I personally cannot tell these blunt tip forms from Rhapis excelsa cultivars. It is certainly a very slow and somewhat picky grower and I have not had much luck with it myself. Its cold tolerance is about the same as Rhapis multifida, maybe even less so. And it really needs to be kept wet. It is a very variable species with a number of wonderful and unusual cultivars of its own (though I am not sure how many have names). I saw many varieties of this species grown as fantastic potted plants in Thailand (sadly, no digital camera back then.)" (Geoff Stein) "A friend of mine gave this small palm to me. I have had it for about 7 months. I put it in the ground, up against my house, immediately and have been proud of its response--In 7 months time this two and a half foot plant gained ten plus inches and has produced over a dozen new sprouts. It gets morning sun and shade for the rest of the day, after 11ish. This species is variable in leaf detail(from plant to plant) and grows very densely. Mine loves water everyday, but doesn't necessarily need it everyday. No leaf burn evidence from two cold spells(frost) so far... She has also thrown out seven new inflorescence's in that time, and the first one is starting to show seed production(though I'm assuming them to be unfertilized as I've never seen a male subtilis plant). This palm is a nice change from the common excelsa." (Andrew Street) The leaf shapes of this bushy dwarf palm are enormously variable, ranging from a simple recurved blade to a small palmate leaf with more than 10 segments. The stems are densely clustered, thin, cane-like and rarely more than 1.5 m (5 ft.) tall. Native to forests in southeast of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, the Thai Lady Palm makes a great ornamental for the tropics. I can also be kept indoors successfully, but generally prefers a more humid environment. (RPS.com) |
External Links
http://www.rhapisgardens.com/rhapis-palms/
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, edric.
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).
Hastings, L.2003. A Revision of Rhapis, the Lady Palms. Palms 47(2) 62-78.
Many Special Thanks to Ed Vaile for his long hours of tireless editing and numerous contributions.