''Hyophorbe amaricaulis'' (also known as the "loneliest palm") is a species of palm tree of the order

Arecales Arecales is an order of flowering plants. The order has been widely recognised only for the past few decades; until then, the accepted name for the order including these plants was Principes. Taxonomy The APG IV system of 2016 places Dasypogo ...

, family

Arecaceae The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

, subfamily

Arecoideae The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

, tribe

Chamaedoreeae Chamaedoreeae is a palm tribe in the subfamily Arecoideae. It has five genera. Genera *'' Hyophorbe'' – Mascarenes *''Wendlandiella'' – Peruvian Amazon *'' Synechanthus'' – Central America, Colombia, Ecuador *'' Chamaedorea'' – Central ...

. It is found exclusively on the island of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

, and only a single surviving specimen has been documented in the

Curepipe Botanic Gardens Curepipe Botanic Gardens (or SSR Botanical Garden of Curepipe) in Route des Jardins, Curepipe, is the second largest botanical garden in Mauritius. It has a relatively informal layout, and contains a river, lake and the world's rarest palm tree am ...

Curepipe Curepipe () also known as ''La Ville-Lumière'' (The City of Light), is a town in Mauritius, located in the Plaines Wilhems District, the eastern part also lies in the Moka District. The town is administered by the Municipal Council of Curepipe. ...

. Thus, it is classified as an

endling An endling is the last known individual of a species or subspecies. Once the endling dies, the species becomes extinct. The word was coined in correspondence in the scientific journal ''Nature''. Alternative names put forth for the last indi ...

Distribution

This species is one of nine species of palm which are indigenous to

, and one of the seven palms which are also

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

. In the 1700s, this palm species was described from specimens taken from the mountain

Pieter Both Pieter Both (1568 – 6 March 1615) was the first Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Not much is known of his early years. In 1599, Both was already an admiral in the New, or Brabant Company. In that year, he traveled to the East Indie ...

, where it seems to have been widespread at the time. Currently, only the single specimen exists in

, and it is not known if this specimen was planted here, or was a survivor from the area's wild population that became included when the gardens were established.

Description

left, alt=Hyophorbe amaricaulis leaves, A close-up view of Hyophorbe amaricaulis leaves The palm is about 12 meters high with a relatively thin gray trunk with a waxy crown shank. It is related to the bottle palm and spindle palm. It is said to resemble the green variety of '' H. indica'' – another '' Hyophorbe'' palm species which also does not develop a swollen trunk. It is reported to have white to cream-colored flowers on an inflorescence with three-ordered branching. Its fruits are 3.8 cm long and a dull red colour, but years and years of efforts have not resulted in fertile offspring.

References

*Ian Parker, "Digging for Dodos", ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', January 22, 2007, pp. 64–73. *''This article is based in part on the article in the German Wikipedia.''

External links

IUCN red list
{{Taxonbar, from=Q146264 amaricaulis Endemic flora of Mauritius Critically endangered plants Endlings