Hyphaene coriacea

Madagascar. Photo by Dr. Henk Beentje, edric.

Hyphaene (hy-FAHN-eh) coriacea (cory-AH-seh-ah)

Montgomery Botanical Center, Florida. Photo by Dr. William J. Baker, edric.

Scientific Classification

Genus:	Hyphaene (hy-FAHN-eh)
Species:	coriacea (cory-AH-seh-ah)

Synonyms

None set.

Native Continent

Please set a value for continent.

Morphology

Habit:	Clustering & solitary.
Leaf type:	Palmate

Culture

Survivability index

Common names

Satrana (Antankarana, Sakalava); Sata (Sakalava, fide Hildebrandt).

Habitat and Distribution

Ethiopia, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Northern Provinces, Somalia, Tanzania, and West Madagascar. Littoral or inland, in grassland or wooded grassland, especially on sand; slight slope or on the flat; able to withstand fire, and sometimes locally common; alt. 1-300 m.

A common species at low altitudes in the West. This species occurs in continental Africa and some islands between Madagascar and Africa in the same habitat; it is one of the few palms which occurs both in Madagascar and elsewhere, but we believe it is native. (J. Dransfield and H. Beentje. 1995)

Description

Clustering palm, often seeming solitary, in groups of 2-6. TRUNK 1-6 m high, 10-20 cm in diam., usually unbranched but occasionally branched, clothed in old leaf-bases, with distinctive criss-cross pattern. LEAVES 9-20 in the crown, porrect or spreading with the rachis recurved, to 1.8 m, and to about 9 marcescent ones; sheath open, split at the base for up to 40 cm, 38-40 cm long, waxy, brown, with fibrous margins; petiole 60-97 cm long, proximally 4-6 x about 3 cm, mid-way flattened, about 2 cm wide with black triangular spines to 1 cm long and curved towards the distal end, distally 1-3.5 x 1.5 cm, pale brown, waxy, with scattered scales; adaxial hastula an oblique, erose fringe to 6 mm high; costa 27- 60 cm long; lamina about 70 cm long, 112 cm wide, with 39-55 segments, the sinuses with conspicuous filaments, outer folds 31-48 x 1.2-2.6 cm, divided to the base or unsplit for 2-7 cm, more inner ones to 63-82 x 4-5 cm, unsplit for up to 20 cm, central folds 40-58 x 1.2-4 cm, unsplit for 7-9 cm, main veins 1-2, apices attenuate and bifid over 1-1.5 cm, midrib with dense to scattered dark brown and grey scales, the faint parallel minor veins with scattered reddish scales. STAMINATE INFLORESCENCES interfoliar, branched to 2 orders; rachillae solitary or in groups of 2-4, 9-36 cm long, 0.7-1.2 cm in diam., the rachillar axes waxy and with reddish scales; bracts 2-3 x 3-3.5 mm, densely stellate-hairy. STAMINATE FLOWERS with sepals imbricate, 2.5-3 x 0.8-1.6 mm, narrowly obovate with a rounded apex; corolla greenish, the stalk 1-2 mm high, the lobes 2-2.8 x 1.5-1.8 mm, (slightly) spathulate and hooded, rounded; stamens with filaments 0.8-1.8 mm and thin, connate with their fleshy bases, anthers 1-1.8 x 0.6-0.8 mm, dorsifixed, versatile, yellow; pistillode not seen. PISTILLATE INFLORESCENCES interfoliar, 60-120 cm long, branched to 1 order with 2-5 rachillae, pendulous in fruit; peduncle 43-56 cm long with 4-5 bracts; bracts 17-19 cm long and distally scaly; rachillae with the stalk about 20 cm long, the fertile part 14-21 cm long, 0.8-1.2 mm in diam. PISTILLATE FLOWERS with the rachilla bract about 2 mm high, about 8 mm wide, inside near the base with dense hairs (? from the rachilla); pedicel 0.5-4 mm high, densely pubescent; sepals 3.5-4.5 x 2.2-3.6 mm; petals 2.5-3.7 x 2-3.2 mm, slightly obovate, obtuse with a ciliolate apex; staminodes connate at the base, 1.5-2 mm high, thin; ovary angular-globose, 3.2-3.5 x 2-3.3 mm. FRUIT irregularly top-shaped, 5-6 cm high, 4-6 cm in diam., on a densely hairy pedicel up to 12 x 7 mm; mesocarp fibrous; endocarp hard, woody and fibrous. SEED about 2.7 x 2.7 cm; endosperm homogeneous with central hollow. (J. Dransfield and H. Beentje. 1995) Editing by edric. ==Culture== In southern California this palm is slightly marginal when it comes to cold tolerance. Frosts tend to do significant leaf damage (less and less as plants age) even at 28F, and may even defoliate young plants. However, if not frozen severely, these plants often recover even from a completely leafless state and sometimes from a rotten bud. The warmer the climate, the happier these palms are, and they perform the best in inland desert areas where temperatures often exceed 120F in summers. However, they do survive, though are afflicted more frequently by bud rot, along the coast of southern California where temperatures rarely exceed 90F, and several mature, trunking specimens are known. Fruiting is rare in these coastal individuals however. This is a full sun species and struggles sometimes if grown in partial sun. It is a slow growing palm in southern California taking up to a decade or more to form a trunk (trunks usually) with the possible exception of desert plants (much faster growth there). Most plants start out as individual plants but dichotomize early on long before a trunk is formed, usually right at ground level. Branching plants are unknown in California.

     In other parts of the US (Florida and Hawaii) this plant is a routine grower and very tolerant of copious rainfall, growing quite rapidly relative to its rate in southern California (with the possible exception of the desert regions).  This species grows well even in marginal zones of Florida where frosts, or even freezes are frequent but not necessarily annual.  Some grow this as an 'annual' knowing that someday a good freeze will come along and kill it, but some plants survive to maturity before this happens.  Editing by G Stein