Pinanga pachyphylla (Pinanga pachyphylla)

Description

Moderate, solitary or clustering undergrowth palm with stems to 3 m tall, about 2 cm in diam., conspicuously marked with nodal scars, internodes about 5-10 cm, the surface covered with caducous brown scales. Crown of about 5 pinnate leaves, the sheaths forming a well-defined green crownshaft about 30 x 2 cm; sheath 15-25 x 2 cm, rather succulent in texture when fresh, drying dull brown, striate, with caducous scattered scales, apparently lacking any ligule-like appendages; petiole about 30 x 1 cm, bearing caducous scales as the sheath; rachis about 90 cm, scaly as the petiole, bearing 9-20 very thick, stiff, almost succulent narrow rather divergent leaflets, bright green when fresh, drying silky dull green to brown, acuminate, mostly composed of single folds except for the compound terminal leaflet pair, the longest in mid-leaf to 50 x 2.2 cm, the apical pair about 25 x 3 cm, both surfaces glabrous. Inflorescence spreading or pendulous, 14-20 cm long with 4-6 divergent rachillae held stiffly ± in one plane; prophyll not preserved; peduncle 10-20 x 6 mm just above the base; rachillae green at anthesis, glabrous, about 11-17 x 0.4 cm, bearing strictly distichous triads subtended by minute scarcely visible bracts, rachilla becoming orange after fertilisation. Staminate flower irregularly flattened and curved by close-packing; calyx irregularly explanate and 3-lobed, ca. 1-2 mm high; petals irregular, very fleshy, two ± triangular-ovate, about 8.5 x 4.5 mm, the third about 8 x 2.5 mm; stamens about 10, filaments very short, 0.2-0.5 mm, anthers elongate 2.5 x 0.8 mm with broad connective. Pollen grains monosulcate, ellipsoid in apertural view; long axis (27-) 30.3 (-34) mm, short axis (21-) 23.0 (-25) mm, wall thickness, about 1-1.5 mm, sulcus membrane thin, underlying small finely reticulate insulae, sulcus shorter than long axis, exine semitectate, finely reticulate, lumina slightly reduced in diameter at sulcus margin. Pistillate flower globular depressed, about 2 x 3 mm; calyx of 3 separate imbricate, rounded striate sepals, about 2 x 2.5 mm, with imbricate, rounded, striate sepals, about 2 x 2.5 mm, with minutely toothed margins; petals 3, imbricate, similar to the sepals; staminodes lacking; ovary rounded about 1.5 mm in diam., tipped with conspicuous curved, irregularly lobed stigma. Immature fruit green, broad-ellipsoidal, pointed at both ends, 9 x 5 mm; seed spherical, 4 mm in diam., deeply ruminate. Seedling not known. (Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. 2005)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.