Millstream Palm (Livistona alfredii)

Description

Livistona alfredii is a medium sized solitary fan palm growing to about ten metres (30 ft.) or more, in height. The fronds have relatively fine leaflets, and are grey-green to blue-green in colour on stalks about a metre long. After the leaves die, the stalks remain on the upper part of the trunk. The flowers are cream or yellow coloured and are produced in spring and summer from September to January. The fruit are round and about3 cm to 4 cm in diameter, turning dark brown when they ripen. It is not a common palm in cultivation, and is a slow growing species. Functionally dioecious palm. Trunk to 12 m tall, 20-50 cm in diam. breast high, leaf scars prominent, internodes narrow, pale grey, petiole stubs persistent in basal 1 m, otherwise deciduous. Leaves 25-30 in a globose crown; petiole 90- 130 cm long, 25-30 mm wide, adaxially flat, margins with curved singleblack spines congested in the proximal portion; leaf-base fibres prominent, coarse, persistent; lamina costapalmate, regularly segmented, subcircularin outline, 90-140 cm long, rigid, adaxially pale green-grey to glaucous, waxy, dull; abaxially light green-grey, waxy; lamina divided for 60-70% of its length, with 50-66 segments, depth of apical cleft 60-75% of the segment length, apical lobes attenuate, rigid; parallel veins 6-8 each side of midrib; transverse veins thinner than parallel veins. Inflorescences unbranched at the base, not sexually dimorphic, 80-270 cm long, not extending beyond the limit of the crown, branched to 3 orders; partial inflorescences 5-7; prophyll not seen; peduncular bracts 1-2, loosely sheathing, sparsely to moderately scaly; rachis bracts loosely sheathing, sparsely to moderately scaly; rachillae to 13 cm long, to 2 mm diameter, white pruinose, papillose. Flowers solitary or in pairs, cylindrical in bud; sepals triangular, 0.8-1 mm long, acute, cream to yellowish; petals triangular, 2-3 mm long, acute to mucronate, cream to yellowish; stamens about 2 mm long. Fruit globose, 25-40 mm in diam., dark brown to black; epicarp with scattered lenticellular pores; suture line extends to about ½ way to base; pedicel to 3 mm long. Seed globose, 17-20 mm wide. Eophyll 3-ribbed. (Dowe, J.L.)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.