42 <div type=
"description"><p>Solitary, unarmed, dioecious fan palm to about
12 m tall; trunk slender, erect, bare, light grey, obscurely ringed, (
10-)
14-
17 cm diameter, elothed in persistent, fibrous leaf-sheaths for
0.6-
2 m below the crown. Leaves (
8-)
15-
25, forming an erect, open ciown, some leaves reflexed, marcescent leaves numerous, forming a small skirt below the crown; leaf-sheath fibrous,
3O cm long or more, coarse, abaxial surface covered in pale tomentum,broadly triangular towards the apex, not breaking down into threads; petiole (
50-)
120-
140 cm, slender (about
2.5 cm. wide and
1.2 cm high near the middle), flat above, slightly keeled towards the leaf-blade, broadly iriangular to rounded beneath, margins smoothr sharp-edged base very thick and robust, about
3.8 cm wide and
2 cm high, covered in pale tomentum; hastula less than
1 cm long, broadly triangular, slightly crested; leaf-blade palmate,
3/
4 to completely orbicular,
65-
85 cm long from hastula,
110-
135 cm wide, leathery, dark green above, with thin whitish tomentum along the folds, slightly glaucous beneath, with clearly visible cross veinlets, nearly regularly divided for less than half its length into
65-
75 stiff, linear segments with two inconspicuous longitudinal folds on either side of the midrib, tapering towards the apex from their broadest point, arranged at slightly differing angles, producing a slightly convoluted leaf profile; central segments
65-
80 cm longo
3.5-
5 cm wide at middle, with a prominent midrib beneath, lateral segments gradually more narrow and shorter, to about
2l-
45 cm long and
1 cm wide, the more lateral segments joined for nearly the entire length in groups of
2-
4, apex of central segments acute, notched, of lateral segments acuminate, bifid for
1-
3 cm. Inflorescences
3-
6, solitary, interfoliar, branched to three orders. Male inflorescence
60-
100 cm long, spreading; peduncle short; prophyll two-keeled, apex acute; peduncular bract single, keeled, base tubular, inflated distally, about
7 cm wide in the distal portion, apex acuminate; rachis bracts
3, similar to peduncular bracts; rachillae short, about
2 mm diameter, yellowish; flowers globose,
2.5-
3 mm diameter, yellowish, arranged in groups of
2-
4 on short pedicels; sepals ovate-triangular, joined into a fleshy base for lower l/
4; petals nearly orbicular, minutely triangular-tipped,
3 times as long as sepals; stamens
6, slightly exceeding petals; filaments ventricose; anthers broadly ovate-sagittate, blunt; pistillodes less than half the length of the stamens. Female inflorescence
100-
150 cm long, stiff, spreading; peduncle about
50 cm long, oval in cross section,
4.2 cm wide,
1.8 cm high; prophyll two.keeled, about
30 cm long, apex acute; peduncular bracts
2, keeledl long, tubular, about
4.5 cm wide. apex acuminate; rachis bracts
3, similar to peduncular bracts; rachillae
5-IB cm long, I*
2 mm di- -ameter,'yellowish-green (in fruit); flowers glo. bose; about
1.5 mm diameter, yellowish, usually in pairs, subsessile, sepals briefly connate into a distinctly swollen base; petals oblong-orbicular, twice as long as sepals; staminodes
6, slightly exceeding petals; carpels with a very shdrt, conical style, stigma punctiform. Fruit shortly stalked, oblong-ellipsoid, flattened on one side,
16-
18 mm long,
1l-
13 mm wide; epicarp thin, yellowish-brown when ripe, turning bluishblack; mesocarp thin, fibrous; seed oval-oblong, flattened or shallowly depressed and grooved on one side,
13-
16 mm long,
8.5-
11 mm wide; endocarp very thin, with a crustaceous sand-like layer of light brown, small, irregurlar scales; endosperm homogeneous with a deep, lateral intrusion. Germination remote-tubular, eophyll simple, plicate, to
2 cm wide, glabrous.
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