''Calamus radicalis'', commonly known as vicious hairy mary, is a plant in the palm family

Arecaceae The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s of north east

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Like other species in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Calamus Calamus may refer to: Botany and zoology * ''Calamus'' (fish), a genus of fish in the family Sparidae * ''Calamus'' (palm), a genus of rattan palms * Calamus, the hollow shaft of a feather, also known as the quill * '' Acorus calamus'', the swe ...

'', this is a climbing plant with a very long and flexible

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

. It uses sharp strong hooks on the fronds and

tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tendr ...

s to attach itself to other vegetation, such as taller established trees, thus gaining support that enables it to grow higher towards the canopy. This species is very similar to '' C. australis'', with which it coexists, but is larger in almost all respects.

Description

This species has a clustering habit, i.e. several stems are produced from the same base. Stems may reach lengths of up to and a diameter of . The leaves (or fronds) are produced on the youngest part of the stem, and the older sections are bare as the leaves age and fall off (exactly the same process as the more familiar upright palm with a stout stem). The older, leafless part of the stem of ''Calamus radicalis'' is smooth and glossy green. The leaves have a long leaf sheath clasping the stem, which is densely covered with needle-like spines measuring or more.

Tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tendr ...

s, measuring several metres in length and armed with many large, stout, recurved barbs are produced from the leaf sheath. The leaf itself is

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

, up to in length, and has 30 to 55 pairs of leaflets. Leaves are armed with stout recurved barbs on both upper and lower surfaces of the rachis, and with fine, short - - spines on the upper surface of the leaflets. The overall outline of the leaf is elliptic and the longest leaflets are at the midpoint, measuring about long by wide. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s are large pendulous

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

s measuring several metres in length, carrying either staminate (functionally male) or

pistillate Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

(functionally female) flowers. Fruits are

globose A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ce ...

, around diameter, with a scaly exterior. They contain a single round seed which is surrounded by a thin layer of soft edible flesh.

Taxonomy

''Calamus radicalis'' was first described in 1875 by

Hermann Wendland Hermann Wendland (October 11, 1825 in Herrenhausen – January 12, 1903 in Hanover) was a German botanist and gardener. He was a noted authority on the family Arecaceae (palms), on which he published a major monograph which formed the basis for t ...

and Carl Georg Oscar Drude in their work ''Palmae Australasicae'', published in the journal ''Linnaea: Ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde''. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

was collected near the Russell River in Queensland.

Distribution and habitat

This species is restricted to the area from

Cape Tribulation Cape Tribulation is a headland and coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas in northern Queensland, Australia. In the , Cape Tribulation had a population of 118 people. Geography The locality is north of Cairns. It is within the Daintree Na ...

southwards to near Mackay. It grows in well developed lowland and

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

rainforest, reaching its best development on soils derived from volcanic rocks.

Conservation

This species is listed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

. , it has not been assessed by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Gallery

File:Calamus-radicalis-SF21229-04.jpg , Tendril, displaying strong sharp hooks File:Calamus radicalis 25872022.jpg , Stem, showing the densely packed spines on the leaf sheath File:Calamus-radicalis-SF21229-06.jpg , Stem and leaflets, both with spines File:Calamus-radicalis-SF22100-06.jpg , Closeup of leaflets, showing the spines arranged in three longitudinal rows

References

External links

* *
View a map
of historical sightings of this species at the

Australasian Virtual Herbarium The ''Australasian Virtual Herbarium'' (AVH) is an online resource that allows access to plant specimen data held by various Australian and New Zealand herbaria. It is part of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), and was formed by the amalgamat ...

View observations
of this species on iNaturalist
View images
of this species on Flickriver {{Taxonbar , from=Q15462318 radicalis Endemic flora of Queensland Taxa named by Hermann Wendland Taxa named by Carl Georg Oscar Drude Plants described in 1875