Marquesas palm (Pelagodoxa henryana)
Description
Pelagodoxa henryana belongs to the monotypic genus Pelagodoxa (Pelagodoxeae: Arecaceae). It is an unarmed, solitary palm to 11 m height. The stem is up to 15 cm in diam, and the leaf scars are closely spaced. The leaves are large, undivided, pinnately ribbed with a bifid apex, and may extend to 3 m long and to about 1 m wide. The upper surface is green and glabrous, and the lower surface has a distinctive silvery glaucous bloom. The petiole is stout and short, to about 22 cm long. The leaf bases are densely tomentose, do not form a crownshaft but have a loose entanglement of fine fibres along the lower margins. It is monoecious, and the inflorescences are interfoliar, not extending beyond the leaves and paniculately branched. The fruit is globose, with a corky warty epicarp that is tan colored at maturity. Three size cohorts occur that differ mostly in proportion (the two smaller ones ripen with a pulpy, orange, fragrant mesocarp, the largest ripens to a tan fibrous mesocarp): 2.0 cm in diam.
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: Pelagodoxa
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