Lipstick Palm

Lipstick Palm

Family : arecaceae

Characteristic features:

Habit: Slender, clustering tree palm with up to c. 3 or more adult stems up to 15 (– 20) m high

Stem: c. 6 – 10 cm diam., green with greyish stripes or yellow with somewhat greenish and purplish stripes, internodes 15 – 24 cm long, crown appearing shuttle-cock shaped

Leaves: 7 – 10 in crown, erect, stiff, to 150 cm long; sheath tubular, c. 100 cm long, forming distinct crownshaft, scarlet to bright red, with scattered black thick scales; petiole elongate, 5 – 50 cm long, 1.5 – 2.5 cm wide and 1 – 2 cm thick at the base, channelled adaxially, rounded abaxially, red, indumentum as sheath; leaflets regularly arranged, leathery, 26 – 40 leaflets on each side, 56 – 107 × 3 – 6 cm at middle portion, apical leaflets 10 – 20 × 1 – 2 cm, briefly pointed with long tip and sometimes notched at apices, green, discolorous when dried, glaucous adaxially, waxy white abaxially, mid-vein with discontinuous membranous brown scales.

Inflorescence: strongly divaricate, to 90 cm long, branched to 2 (possibly 3) orders, creamy, green to dark purplish-red; peduncle 5 – 8 cm long; rachilla 27 – 73.5 cm long and 4 – 6 mm diam., calyx persistent on rachillae when fruits fallen off; pits 2 – 5 mm diam., 5 – 7 pits per 1 cm rachilla length

Flowers: Staminate flowers 2 – 2.5 × 2 – 3 mm, asymmetrical; sepals 1.8 – 2 × 2 mm, imbricate, rounded, strongly keeled; petals 1 – 2 × 1 – 1.8 mm, triangular, brown at apex and base; stamens 12 – 15; filaments 0.7 – 1 × 0.2 – 0.3 mm; anthers 1 – 1.5 × 0.5 – 0.8 mm; pollen size, long axis 36 – 43 µm, short axis 27 – 33 µm, proximal wall thickness 1.5 – 2 µm, distal wall thickness not observed, tectum surface microfossulate-rugulate, trichotomosulcate grains present; pistillode 0.7 – 1 × 0.2 – 0.5 mm, trifid Pistillate flowers 4 – 5 × 3 – 4 mm; sepals 3 – 4 × 2 – 3 mm, imbricate, strongly keeled, dark brown to black; petals 3 – 3.5 × 2 – 2.5 mm; gynoecium 3.5 × 1.5 mm (including three recurved stigma 0.5 – 1 mm); staminodes circular, 0.5 – 1 mm height

Fruits : 7 – 10 × 4 – 7 mm, ellipsoid to ovoid, light green becoming black when ripe.

Seeds: 4 – 5 × 3 – 5 × 3 – 5, ellipsoid to ovoid