Arecaceae
Livistona

Livistona lanuginosa Rodd

First published in Telopea 8: 82 (1998)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is NE. Queensland. It is a tree and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Conservation
Endangered (Dowe, 2007).
Habitat
Occurs as a riparian element along the margins of streams and in seasonal gullies and associated floodplains with high watertables, at 140-270 m alt. Flowers Mar-Nov; fruits Nov-Jan.
Distribution
Australia. Queensland. Restricted to the Cape, Campaspe, Rollston, Burdekin and Belyando Rivers and tributaries
General Description
Functionally dioecious palm. Trunk to 18 m tall, 25-35 cm dbh, leaf scars raised, compressed, internodes broad, grey-brown, base with persistent petiole stubs. Leaves 35-45 in a globose crown; petiole 150- 200 cm long, 30-35 mm wide, adaxially flat, margins with small single, curved black spines confined to the proximal portion; leaf-base fibres moderately prominent, coarse, persistent; lamina costapalmate, costa arcuate, regularly segmented, ± circular in outline, 130-190 cm long, coriaceous, daxially pale grey-green, abaxially lighter grey-green, waxy, trongly pruinose; lamina divided for ca 34% of its length, with 70-92 segments, depth of apical cleft ca 24% of the segment length, apical lobes acuminate, semi-pendulous; parallel veins 8 each side of midrib; transverse veins thinner than parallel veins. Inflorescences unbranched at the base, not sexually dimorphic, 140-220 cm long, not extending beyond the limit of the crown, branched to 4 orders; partial inflorescences 8-12; prophyll densely tomentose; peduncular bracts 1-2, loosely sheathing, densely lanuginose; rachis bracts loosely sheathing, not disintegrating, densely lanuginose; rachillae 3-12 cm long, glabrous. Flowers solitary or in pairs, funnel-shaped, 2.8-3 mm long, cream to yellow; sepals narrowly triangular, ca 1.5 mm long, fleshy, acuminate to aristate; petals triangular, 2.8-3 mm long, thick, acute; stamens ca 2 mm long. Fruit globose, 25- 36 mm diam., purple-brown to black with scattered white flecks; epicarp with large lenticellular pores; suture line extends for ca ½ the length of the fruit, marked with lip-like structures; mesocarp fibrous, dry; endocarp 2-3 mm wide; pedicel to 1 mm long. Seed globose, 18-22 mm wide. Eophyll 5 ribbed.
Vernacular
Cape River Fan-palm, Burdekin Livistona, Woolly Palm.
[PW]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Palmweb - Palms of the World Online

    • Palmweb 2011. Palmweb: Palms of the World Online. Published on the internet http://www.palmweb.org. Accessed on 21/04/2013
    • Content licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0