Hydriastele dransfieldii (Hydriastele dransfieldii)

Description

Solitary pleonanthic, moderately robust palm; stems up to 1,2 m tall, 5-12 cm in diam.; internodes 3.0-1 1.5 cm long, nodal scars not always conspicuous. Leaves 6-10 in the crown, pinnate, 1.3-3.0 m long (including petiole), neatly abscising; sheaths tubular, 35-80 cm long, covered with thin, finely floccose, dark brown indumentum; crownshaft well defined, up to 12O cm long and up to 20 cm in diam.; petiole 10-65 cm long and 1.5-3.0 cm in diam., channeled adaxially, rounded abaxially, indumentose at junction with sheath, otherwise with copious minute, dark scales; rachis somewhat arching, with adaxial longitudinal ridge, rounded abaxially, indumentose as sheath, indumentum sometimes more dense and coarse than on sheath, sometimes absent with only scattered scales remaining, indumentum possibly lost with age; blade variously divided into 1-19 fold leaflets, typically including 3 pairs of multiple-fold leaflets, interspersed with very few pairs of single-fold leaflets; leaflet with praemorse apical margin, 65-130 cm long, 1.5-30 cm wide, individual folds 1.5-3.5 cm wide, terminal pair of leaflets always multiple-fold (about 10-14 folds) forming flabellum with cleft apex; Iamina with numerous minute brown dots on both sides, transverse veinlets inconspicuous, adaxial surface paler when dried, main veins with very few minute hairs adaxially and brown ramenta abaxially. Inflorescence infrafoliar, 37-41, cm long at anthesis, apparently growing to about 52 cm long in fruit, protandrous, branching to 1 order; peduncle 2-5 cm long, glabrous; prophyll 43-46 cm long, 5-8 cm wide, borne about half way up the peduncle, tubular, lanceolate, Z-keeled, membranous, glabrous, entirely enclosing the inflorescence, then splitting longitudinally and falling before staminate anthesis; peduncular bracts 1-3, first peduncular bract borne 8-10 mm above the prophyll, similar to the prophyll in shape and size, but lacking keels, remaining peduncular bracts inconspicuous and incomplete; rachis 1-2 cm long; rachis bracts inconspicuous, incompletely sheathing; rachillae 4-LI, 30-36 cm long at anthesis, apparently growing to about 49 cm long in fruit, 2.0-3.5 mm wide, borne at a very acute angle to the rachis, apparently rather stiff and straight, or pendulous when heavy with fruit, sometimes sinuous in distal-most portion, bearing triads in opposite and decussate pairs, except in distal-most and proximal-most portion of rachilla where arranged spirally, triads 4-6 mm apart; rachilla bracts very inconspicuous, low, rounded; floral bracteoles low, rounded, similar to rachilla bract. Staminate flowers 9-11 mm long, asymmetrical; sepals 3, greenish white, connate, triangular, 2 mm long; petals 3, white, briefly connate at the base, falcate, acuminate, much exceeding the calyx, 1 petal much larger than the others, 10-11 x 4-5 mm, smaller petals 9-10 x 2-3 mm; stamens 13-16 (very rarely as few as 9); filaments slender, about 0.5 mm long, sometimes briefly epipetalous near base of petal; anthers linear, 5-6.5 mm long, about 0.6 mm wide, basifixed, dehiscence latrorse, connective prolonged into an acute appendage, about 0.5 mm long; pollen unknown; pistillode absent.