''Retispatha'' is a rare, monotypic
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
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
palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm (ba ...
family endemic to
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
, where the sole species, ''Retispatha dumetosa'', is known as (dialectal: ) or 'the bear's sugar cane'. The name combines
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
words meaning 'network' and 'spathe', and the species epithet means 'bushy'.
[Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) ''An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms''. Portland: Timber Press. / ] While classified with other
rattan
Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed- canopy old-growth tropical fores ...
s, they retain only superficial climbing organs; they sprawl and lean but are not true climbers.
Taxonomy
Despite bearing strong resemblance to members of the
Plectocomiinae, in preparing illustrations for the palm survey ''
Genera Palmarum
''Genera Palmarum'' is a botany reference book that gives a detailed overview of the systematic biology of the palm family ( Arecaceae). The first edition of ''Genera Palmarum'' was published in 1987. The second edition was published in 2008, with ...
'', Marion Sheehan discovered a single sterile, staminate flower among the pistillate members. The absence of such a flower previously obscured its relationship with the
Calaminae, which it also closely resembles. This find, despite its rarity, seems to confirm its placement in the
Calaminae subtribe.
[Uhl, Natalie W. and Dransfield, John (1987) '']Genera Palmarum
''Genera Palmarum'' is a botany reference book that gives a detailed overview of the systematic biology of the palm family ( Arecaceae). The first edition of ''Genera Palmarum'' was published in 1987. The second edition was published in 2008, with ...
- A classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore''. Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press. /
Description
The clustering trunks are extensively armed with spines, 6 – 8 cm wide, closely ringed, with aerial roots at lower leaf nodes. The pinnate
leaf
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...
is borne on a well-developed and armed petiole, the sheath and rachis also whorled with spines and covered in tomentum. The linear leaflets are regularly arranged with one fold, margins are toothed, and the midrib is prominent.
On flowering, the inflorescence in male plants is branched to three orders, in females to one, rarely two. The prophyll is large, splitting and becoming tattered, and armed with pseudo-whorls of black spines. Peduncular bracts are not present in the genus, the first order branches bear distichous, unarmed tubular bracts with fibrous limbs which subtend or wholly enclose, in the staminate spike, the second order branch system. These are subtended by tubular, membranous bracts, the third order rachillae have similar bracts subtending solitary staminate
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.
The staminate flowers are tiny with a tubular calyx divided into three hairy, triangular lobes. The corolla is basally tubular and twice as long as the calyx, divided into three lobes, striate and valvate. There are six stamens with laterally connate filaments and oblong to ovate anthers, dorsifixed towards the base. The
pollen is circular to elliptical and monosulcate; exine reticulate and tectate and irregularly spotted with striate spines; the tiny pistillode is trifid.
In female plants the inflorescence usually features one main branch and the branchlets may grow from the main axil, the branch, or both. The branchlets are subtended by netlike bracts, often enclosing them, each small branch bearing up to 20 pistillate flowers, each flower held in two distinct bracteoles. A sterile staminate flower is usually absent.
[ The pistillate flowers are larger, calyx similar, with six staminodes. The filaments are joined to form a tube, the empty anthers flattened, gynoecium ovular, trioculate and scaly. There are three conspicuous fleshy stigmas, reflexed, with a basally attached ovule. The beaked ]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 ovoid to pear shaped, covered in reflexed scales, with a thin mesocarp. Each fruit carries one basally attached seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
with a basal embryo.
Distribution and habitat
The one species is scattered across Borneo forming dense patches in hills and valleys of Dipterocarp forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
s, absent from the montane
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...
and heath
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...
varieties.[ No local uses have been recorded.
]
References
External links
''Retispatha'' on NPGS/GRIN
GBIF portal - ''Retispatha''
Fairchild Guide to Palms: ''Retispatha''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q16060773, from2=Q141123
Calamoideae
Monotypic Arecaceae genera
Endemic flora of Borneo