''Saribus woodfordii'' is a species of

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 ...

which is native to an area from southeastern

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

to the

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 capita ...

Taxonomy

''S. woodfordii'' was first collected in 1897 or 1898 on the island of

Makira The island of Makira (also known as San Cristobal and San Cristóbal) is the largest island of Makira-Ulawa Province in the Solomon Islands. It is third most populous island after Malaita and Guadalcanal, with a population of 55,126 as of 2020 ...

, also known as San Cristobal, in the Solomon Islands, by the German plant collector Wilhelm Micholitz. It was first described in 1898 under the name ''Livistona woodfordi'' by

Henry Nicholas Ridley Henry Nicholas Ridley CMG (1911), MA (Oxon), FRS, FLS, F.R.H.S. (10 December 1855 – 24 October 1956) was an English botanist, geologist and naturalist who lived much of his life in Singapore. He was instrumental in promoting rubber trees i ...

. Christine D. Bacon and William J. Baker moved the species to the resurrected 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 c ...

'' in 2011. The name was later corrected to ''Livistona woodfordii''. A

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 ...

was never designated by Ridley, so a

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

was selected by

John Leslie Dowe John Leslie Dowe is an Australian botanistIPNI: John Leslie Dowe
''The Interna ...

in 2009. Dowe chose the specimen sheet in

The Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

in London, with isolectotypes designated in

herbaria 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 ...

in the

Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze The Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze is a natural history museum in 6 major collections, located in Florence, Italy. It is part of the University of Florence. Museum collections are open mornings except Wednesday, and all day Saturday; an adm ...

Singapore Botanic Gardens The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a -year-old tropical garden located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore. It is one of three gardens, and the only tropical garden, to be honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Th ...

and the Kew Herbarium.

Description

This plant is a

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

. It has a trunk up to in height, and

diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, ...

. The leaf or petiole scars are slightly raised, with irregular widths, and light grey in colour; the internodes between the scars are broad, and become greyish-brown to grey with age. The stubs of the petioles are not persistent, i.e. they do not remain clinging onto the trunk for long.

Similar species

Although Bacon and Baker do not provide a

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

to the nine species of ''Saribus'', one can be found in the key provided by Dowe in his 2009 ''Livistona'' monograph, where the eight species which were transferred to ''Saribus'' are split from the rest in the beginning of the key. ''S. woodfordii'' keys out together with ''S. chocolatinus'', ''S. papuanus'' and ''S. merrillii'' which all have inflorescences that divide to the third order. ''S. papuanus'' and ''S. merrillii'' have yellow flowers as opposed to red. ''S. woodfordii'' can be distinguished from ''S. chocolatinus'' by having somewhat hanging ends of the leaf segments, as opposed to rigid, a deeply undulate leaf blade. ''S. woodfordii'' has half as short inflorescence brachlets (rachillae) at 4 to 6 cm long. These rachillae are also half as thick at 1mm. ''S. chocolatinus'' is furthermore the only species to have its rachillae covered throughout in tomentose indumentum -this is chocolate-brown at their bases, turning cream-green near their ends, whereas ''S. woodfordii'' only has tomentum at the bases of the rachillae, and this is coloured purplish-brown.

Uses

It was cultivated in the

, at least in the 1920s.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q56051854, from2=Q5404005 Livistoninae Flora of New Guinea Flora of the Solomon Islands (archipelago) Trees of Papuasia