Kentiopsis pyriformis (Kentiopsis pyriformis)
Description
Subcanopy to emergent palm. Trunk l0-18 m. tall, 1O-22 cm. in diam. below head, brown becoming gray, sometimes enlarged or bulging at the base, adventitious roots visible. Crown holds 7-12 leaves, ascending to spreading, moderately recurved or nearly straight; crownshaft 70-130 cm. long, copper colored or purplish red, with a thin cover of glaucous- white wax, and minutely puncticulate with tiny brown lacerate scales abaxially, splitting in the distal 1/4-1/3 opposite petiole, and there bearing small auricles 1 cm. long or terminatirrg on petiole with two wings l0 cm. long; petiole 20-45 cm. long (some times to 2.6 m. long in trunkless juveniles), glabrescent, green or reddish to purplish; rachis 2.5-3 m. long, petiole and rachis variously covered initially, by thin felt like indument of brown-centered, white-margined scales; pinnae 40-58 on each side, median ones 110-130 X 5-8 cm., proximal two pairs continuing into lorae, all acute, coriaceous one-ribbed, ascending and held in open V or borne in one plane and flat to slightly pendulous, green and glossy adaxially, midrib and sometimes secondary ribs bearing abaxially membranous, medifixed ramenta in groups of 2-20. Inflorescences 1-2, 60-100 cm. wide, spreading, branched to four orders; peduncle 6-10 cm. long; prophyll 40-50 X 20 cm., splitting into two halves; first peduncular bract 50-60 X 15-18 cm., beaked, slightly exceeding the prophyll, both bracts pale green or dark purple, glabrescent to variously tomentose abaxially; rachis 30-40 cm. long with l0 main branches 2-10 cm. long, 1-4 cm. wide, sharply angled, dorsiventrally flattened, brownish green to bright purple; peduncle and rachis with thin indument of brown centered, white-margined minute scales; bracts subtending branches small, triangular-obtuse to acuminate and finally reduced to a ridge; rachillae 100-400, slender, 20-30 cm. long, 0.5 cm. in diameter, folded and mucilaginous in inflorescence bud, rounded, glabrescent, very pale green to cream-colored in bud, becoming brown or dark purple.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Arecales
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Family: Arecaceae
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Genus: Kentiopsis
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