''Saribus jeanneneyi'' is a very rare

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

palm tree 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 ...

in the genus ''

Saribus ''Saribus'' is a genus of palms (family Arecaceae), native to Southeast Asia, Papuasia and Pacific Islands. They are fan palms, the leaves with an armed petiole terminating in a rounded, costapalmate fan of numerous leaflets. '' Livistona'' is ...

''. It is

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 southern

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, where only one mature specimen, surrounded by a few seedlings, survived in its native

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

as of 1997. The cause of its rarity in the wild is because its

meristem The meristem is a type of tissue found in plants. It consists of undifferentiated cells (meristematic cells) capable of cell division. Cells in the meristem can develop into all the other tissues and organs that occur in plants. These cells conti ...

is edible.

Taxonomy

In 1910 ''Saribus jeanneneyi'' was first described as a new species by the Italian palm specialist

Odoardo Beccari Odoardo Beccari (16 November 1843 – 25 October 1920) was an Italian botanist famous for his discoveries in Indonesia, particularly New Guinea, and Australia. He has been called the greatest botanist to ever study Malesia. His author abbreviat ...

. He placed it in the genus '' Pritchardiopsis'', but

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

studies based on DNA led to its transfer into ''Saribus'' in 2011. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

commemorates Ambroise Jeanneney, an

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

in New Caledonia, who collected the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

specimen in Prony District. The holotype is housed at the

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

Description

The fruit are some 4cm in diameter. Compared to other species of ''Saribus'', ''S. jeanneneyi'' has relatively large fruit, although it shares this characteristic with ''S. surru'' and ''S. tothur''. Its fruit are reported to be purplish when ripe, but near-ripe fruit have been photographed with a yellow-orange colour. The seeds are surrounded by a keeled, woody

endocarp Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Agg ...

; ''S. papuanus'' likewise has a thickened endocarp.

Distribution

Compared to the other palms in the genus ''Saribus'', ''S. jeanneneyi'' has an outlying distribution far to the east of the other species. It is

to southern

Ecology

It grows on a steep slope on

serpentine soil Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially anti ...

s at 200 metres elevation.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1103646 Livistoninae Endemic flora of New Caledonia Critically endangered plants Taxa named by Odoardo Beccari Taxonomy articles created by Polbot