''Metroxylon warburgii'' commonly called the natangura palm, 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 specific epithet is in honor of Otto Warburg. The common name is from the

Bislama Bislama (; ; also known by its earlier French name, ) is an English-based creole language and one of the official languages of Vanuatu. It is the first language of many of the "Urban ni-Vanuatu" (citizens who live in Port Vila and Luganville) ...

name ''natanggura''.

Habitat

It is found in

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

. It can be found in lowland, swampy areas and the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

s of Vanuatu,

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

, and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. It thrives in sunny, hot environments with a lot of water, and cannot live in the cold.

Growth

It is a medium-large solitary palm tree that can grow up to about 10m tall. It has spiny leaf bases and leaves that slight bend backward. The plant reaches maturity around eight years old, and is also

monocarpic Monocarpic plants are those that flower and set seeds only once, and then die. The term is derived from Greek (''mono'', "single" + ''karpos'', "fruit" or "grain"), and was first used by Alphonse de Candolle. Other terms with the same meaning ar ...

, which means that it can only flower once before it dies.

Uses

It is widely used as a material for thatching houses. The seeds are also used as

vegetable ivory Vegetable ivory or tagua nut is a product made from the very hard white endosperm of the seeds of certain palm trees. Vegetable ivory is named for its resemblance to animal ivory. Species in the genus ''Phytelephas'' (literally "elephant plan ...

, and in French they are called ' (literally: "

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

nuts").

References

External links

* * warburgii Trees of the Solomon Islands Trees of Vanuatu Least concern plants Taxa named by Odoardo Beccari Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{palm-stub