Difference between revisions of "Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus var. 'big curly'"

Revision as of 04:14, 2 December 2014

Dypsis (DIP-sis) prestoniana (pres-toh-nee-AHN-ah) var. 'big curly'
Photo by Robert De Jong, Oceanside, CA.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Dypsis (DIP-sis) Species: prestoniana (pres-toh-nee-AHN-ah) var. 'big curly'
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
Africa
Morphology
Habit: Solitary Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
Tavilo (Betsimisaraka); Babovavy, Tavilo (Antaisaka).

Habitat and Distribution

Dypsis prestoniana var. 'big curly' is endemic to Madagascar. Only known from the Midongy area; an old collection from Mahanoro. Moist forest; slight slope; clay soils derived from laterite; alt. 50-550 m.

Possibly a var. of D. prestoniana

Description

Solitary palm. TRUNK 4-12 m. high, 24-40 cm. in diam.; basal boss about 15 cm high, 40 cm. in diam.; internodes 10-15 cm, pale grey-brown, distally green and smooth; nodal scars c. 3.5 cm, pale grey. LEAVES 8-10 in the crown, spiral, porrect to spreading, arched gracefully in the distal part; sheath 90% open, green to pale brown or grey, with waxy covering, with flaking brown tomentum of peltate scales, about 114 x 28 cm, with distinct rounded shoulders, the sheath in cross-section slightly triangular with thick middle section and thin flat margins; petiole 0-17 cm, about 7 x 6 cm. in diam., deeply channelled; rachis about 4.4 m, channelled in its proximal part (channel 6 cm wide near petiole) but in mid leaf about 3.5 x 3 cm. in diam., with slightly sunken circular waxy scales; pinnae about 164 on each side of the rachis, grouped and fanned within the groups, the groups 3-9 in number, dense and irregular, about 4 cm apart, the individual pinnae 0.3-2 cm apart, the proximal 76 -123 x 1-2.5 cm, the most proximal often with long pendulous reins, median 97-112 x 2.7-4.7 cm, distal 17-50 x 1.3-2.6 cm, main veins 3, plus very thickened margins, abaxially glaucous with white wax, as well as with dense patches of large (- 8 mm) red-brown ramenta on the midrib near the base, pinnae apices unequally bifid and acute. INFLORESCENCE interfoliar, erect with spreading or recurved branches, branched to 3 orders, about 226 x 90 cm; peduncle about 118 cm long, 12 x 4 cm. in diam. proximally, 8 x 4.5 cm. in diam. distally, yellow with brown scales, turning green with redbrown scales; A prophyll about 60 x 20 cm (to 1.2 m, fide Perrier), woody, densely scaly, slightly beaked, only opening near the apex; peduncular bract deciduous (inserted at 55 cm), the distal portion seen with white wax and minute peltate scales, probably beaked; non-sheathing peduncular bract at 91 cm (4.5-5 cm high, base around peduncle), at 105 cm (3.5 cm high, 9 cm wide), at 110 cm (1 x 9 cm); rachis about 106 cm, densely puberulous, with about 26 branched and 8 unbranched first order branches; main first order branches with a rachis of up to 42 cm, proximally up to 4 x 1.5 cm. in diam., with up to 12 branched and 9 unbranched secondary branches; rachillae 9-42 cm, densely puberulous, 2.5-4 mm. in diam., whitish or pale yellow; triads dense, set in slight pits subtended by entire, rounded bracts. STAMINATE FLOWERS in bud with sepals 1.2-1.3 x 1.2-1.3 mm; petals 1.5-1.8 x 1.3-1.4 mm; stamens 6, 1-seriate, with filaments about 1 mm and narrowly cylindrical, anthers 1-1.2 x 0.4 mm with parallel locules, versatile and dorsifixed; pistillode about 0.8 x 0.3 mm. PISTILLATE FLOWERS with sepals 1.5-2.2 x 1.6-2.4 mm, concave, orbicular, rounded, minutely ciliolate; petals 2-2.6 x 2.1-2.8 mm, broadly obovate with a small apiculus; staminodes 6, 0.4-1 mm high, thin and flat; ovary about 2.5 x 1.8 mm, asymmetrical. FRUIT ellipsoid with rounded apex, 12-15 x 6-8 mm, orange; endocarp fibrous. SEED narrowly ellipsoid, 11-12 x 5-5.5 mm, acute at base, rounded at apex, with homogeneous endosperm with slight marginal undulations. (J. Dransfield and H. Beentje. 1995)/Palmweb.

Quite distinct from other large solitary species with grouped pinnae by its long and interfoliar inflorescence with densely puberulous rachillae, and homogeneous endosperm. (J. Dransfield and H. Beentje. 1995)/Palmweb.

Culture

Comments and Curiosities

Four basic characteristics make this variation stand out from its counterpart, regular D. prestoniana. One: its mammouth size, (3 and sometime 4 times the size of a regular D. prestoniana) huge even at the juvenile stage, no confusing this palm with a regular D. prestoniana. Second: its much curlier and wider pinnae. Third: its nearly always green, I mean green color. And four: its ease of care to maintain that green color, regular D. prestoniana struggles to keep any semblance of a solid green appearance, (except in Hawaii, once it's well rooted in the ground) often exhibiting a two tone, light green, dark green, striped pinnae (Bill Sanford refers to as the Oreo look)

A species which was discovered through serendipity: HB was trying to refind Chrysalidocarpus midongensis (now a synonym of D. onilahensis), unaware that that taxon came from a totally different Midongy (a small hamlet in the Itremo Mountains), failed to find it, but spotted this elegant tree on the skyline of a hill. The specific epithet honours Mr. Paul Preston, President of McDonald's Restaurants Limited (UK), who sponsored the four-year Palms of Madagascar fellowship. (J. Dransfield and H. Beentje. 1995)/Palmweb.

Conservation: Vulnerable. At present only known from the Midongy area, where numbers do not exceed two hundred. None occurs in a protected area. HB has visited the Mahanoro area, which is nowadays devoid of tree palms. (J. Dransfield and H. Beentje. 1995)/Palmweb.