''Trachycarpus princeps'' is a species of

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 ...

endemic to

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

in southern central China. It grows on

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

cliffs and ridge tops in

monsoonal A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

rain forest in the

Salween River , ''Mae Nam Salawin'' ( , name_etymology = , image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar , map ...

valley at elevations of . The epithet is

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 ...

for "prince" and alludes to "the stately bearing of this palm and the majestic way it looks down from its lofty position on the sheer cliff faces" (Gibbons 1993). The species was described in 1995 by Gibbons, Spanner & Chen. The trunk grows to high with a diameter of , and is covered in dense fibres in all but its oldest parts. The leaves are semicircular, diameter, with 45–48 linear-lanceolate segments that extend halfway into the depth of the blade, which is bright medium green above and glaucous, bluish-white beneath. The fruit is a blackish drupe long with a pale waxy bloom.Robert Lee Riffle & Paul Craft. ''An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms''.

References

princeps ''Princeps'' (plural: ''principes'') is a Latin word meaning "first in time or order; the first, foremost, chief, the most eminent, distinguished, or noble; the first man, first person". As a title, ''princeps'' originated in the Roman Republic w ...

Endemic flora of Yunnan Trees of China Plants described in 1995 {{palm-stub