''Trachycarpus martianus'' (also known as Martius' fan palm) is a species in the genus ''

Trachycarpus ''Trachycarpus'' is a genus of eleven species of palms native to Asia, from the Himalaya east to eastern China. They are fan palms (subfamily Coryphoideae), with the leaves with a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets ...

'' from two distinct populations, one at in the Khasia Hills, Meghalaya Province, in northeast

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, the other at in central northern

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

. Other populations have been reported in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

and southern China.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, ''Trachycarpus martianus''
/ref> The main identifying characteristics are the regular leaf splits (to about half way), the coffee bean shaped seeds (similar looking to ''

Trachycarpus latisectus ''Trachycarpus latisectus'' (formerly ''Trachycarpus sikkimensis'' ined.) is an attractive palm tree with large leathery leaves with exceptionally wide segments and a thick, bare and ringed trunk. Its fan-shaped leaves resemble those of ''Livisto ...

'') and the bare, as opposed to fibrous trunk. The new leaf spear and edges of the petioles are covered with a white tomentum.Martius, Carl Friedrich Philipp von. 1831. Plantae Asiaticae Rariores 3: 5–6, t. 211, ''Chamaerops martiana''
/ref> The species is named after the German botanist

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius Carl Friedrich Philipp (Karl Friedrich Philipp) von Martius (17 April 1794 – 13 December 1868) was a German botanist and explorer. Life Martius was born at Erlangen, the son of Prof Ernst Wilhelm Martius, court apothecary. He graduated PhD ...

(1794-1868).Genaust, Helmut (1976). ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen'' It is used in making Jhapi, a traditional head cover often used to felicitate guests in Assam.

References

martianus Martianus Minneus Felix Capella (fl. c. 410–420) was a jurist, polymath and Latin prose writer of late antiquity, one of the earliest developers of the system of the seven liberal arts that structured early medieval education. He was a nati ...

Trees of Myanmar Trees of China Flora of East Himalaya Flora of Bangladesh Flora of Assam (region) Trees of Nepal Plants described in 1831 {{Palm-stub