''Cyphosperma tanga'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the 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 ...

. It is found only in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. Cutting by the Forestry Department resulted in the serious depletion of one subpopulation in 1970 and also continues to affect another more recently discovered subpopulation. Seed crops of reasonable size appear to be extremely infrequent and it is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Description

''Cyphosperma tanga'' is a moderately stout, small understorey palm that grows up to 5 m in height, with a trunk to 15 cm in diameter. It is also known as Taqwa. The trunk is chocolate brown in colour. A single palm tree has about 12 3 m long, undivided fronds that are held rather erect. There is no crown shaft. Old leaves often persist around the trunk giving the tree a rather tattered appearance. The green inflorescence is long and sparse, growing up to 1.5 m in length and branched to two orders. It emerges from between the leaves, and is initially erect before becoming pendulous. The fruit are oblong ellipsoidal. They turn yellowish brown when mature and grow up to 1.4 cm in length.http://www.naturefiji.org/endangeredspecie.php?id=20&english=Taqwa&specie=Cyphosperma+tanga&type=Plant Nature Fiji Retrieved on 19 Jan 2015

Ecology

Taqwa grows as an understorey palm on rocky volcanic soils. The palm trees are sparsely distributed on steep slopes in montane rainforest at an altitude of 600-900m on the north western slopes of Mt. Tomanivi. This area receives very high rainfall of over 5,000 mm annually with little seasonality.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1616866

tanga Tanga may refer to: Places Burkina Faso * , a town in eastern Burkina Faso * Tanga, Sidéradougou, a village in western Burkina Faso * Tanga-Pela, a village in northern-central Burkina Faso Other places * Tanga, Tanzania, a city and port on th ...

Endemic flora of Fiji Critically endangered plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot