''Nannorrhops ritchiana'', the Mazari palm, is the sole species in the genus ''Nannorrhops'' 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 ...

Distribution

It is native to southwestern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, in the historical region of Balochistan, from the southeast of the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

east through

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, growing at altitudes of up to 1,600 m.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>Mosti, S., Raffaelli, M. & Tardelli, M. (2006). A contribution to the flora of Wadi Abdur (Dhofar, Southern Oman). Webbia: Journal of Plant Taxonomy and Geography 61: 253-260.

Description

It is a shrub-like clumping palm, with several stems growing from a single base. The stems grow slowly and often tightly together, reaching or more tall. It is a

fan palm Fan palm as a descriptive term can refer to any of several different kinds of palms ( Arecaceae) in various genera with leaves that are palmately lobed (rather than pinnately compound). Most are members of the subfamily Coryphoideae, though a f ...

(Arecaceae tribe Corypheae), with the

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

with a long, smooth (unspined) petiole terminating in a rounded fan of 20–30 leaflets, long, with a distinct glaucous blue-green to grey-green colour. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are borne in tall, open clusters up to long at the top of the stems; it is usually

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

with male and female flowers on separate plants. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a brown

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

. The individual stems are

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 are ...

, dying back to the ground after flowering, with the plant continuing growth from basal sprouts. It is one of the hardier palms, tolerating winter frosts down to about (possibly even ), though it requires very hot summers for good growth
It can be grown in USDA zones 6-11.
It is occasionally grown as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

in southern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and southern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, but is not widely cultivated.

References

External links

*
Fairchild Guide to Palms: ''Nannorrhops''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q21445547, from2=Q138285 Coryphoideae Monotypic Arecaceae genera Flora of Pakistan Flora of Iran Flora of Afghanistan Flora of the Arabian Peninsula Dioecious plants