''Lepidorrhachis'' is a
monotypic genus of
flowering plant in the
palm family restricted to
Lord Howe Island. The genus name for the single,
monoecious
Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy.
Monoecy is conne ...
species, ''Lepidorrhachis mooreana'', comes from two
Greek word meaning "scale" and "rachis", and the epithet honors
Charles Moore, first director of the
Sydney Botanical Gardens.
[Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) ''An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms''. Portland: Timber Press. / ] The common name is Little Mountain Palm.
Description
These small palms are solitary-trunked, reaching heights of 3.5 m at a 15 cm diameter; prominently ringed by leaf scars, the trunks are green at the base and usually grey nearing the crown. The 1.5 m
leaf is
pinnate, arching and ascending, with 60 cm lanceolate leaflets from medium to dark green, which may hang slightly pendent in maturity. The leaves, petioles, and rachises are lightly or densely covered in scales. The
inflorescence is short, thick, and much branched, and emerges at a node below the rudimentary
crownshaft; it bears both pistillate and staminate
flowers with three sepals and three
petals. The
fruit, known to attract
rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...
s, is spherical or nearly so, colored red at maturity, with one
seed.
[Uhl, Natalie W. and Dransfield, John (1987) ''Genera Palmarum - A classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore''. Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press. / ]
Distribution and habitat
On
Lord Howe Island, they grow at high elevations, from 800 m and up, in the
cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...
s of the Gower and Lidgbird mountains. Constantly cloaked in a cool, windy, extremely moist climate, they grow in any soil type but will not withstand frost.
[
]
References
External links
''Lepidorrhachis'' on NPGS/GRIN
GBIF Portal
Fairchild Guide to Palms: ''Lepidorrhachis''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q2709257, from2=Q23772860
Endemic flora of Lord Howe Island
Basseliniinae
Monotypic Arecaceae genera
Taxa named by Hermann Wendland
Taxa named by Carl Georg Oscar Drude
