Lepidorrhachis

taxobox
name = "Lepidorrhachis"
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Monocots
unranked_ordo = Commelinids
ordo = Arecales
familia = Arecaceae
subfamilia = Arecoideae
tribus = Areceae
genus = "Lepidorrhachis"
genus_authority = (H. Wendl. & Drude) O.F. CookO.F. Cook, Journal of Heredity 18:408. 1927 Type:"L. mooreana"]
species = "L. mooreana"
binomial = "Lepidorrhachis mooreana"|

"Lepidorrhachis" is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family restricted to Lord Howe Island. The genus name for the single, monoecious 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. ISBN 0881925586 / ISBN 978-0881925586]

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 gray 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 rats, 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. ISBN 0935868305 / ISBN 978-0935868302]

Distribution and habitat

On Lord Howe Island, they live at high elevations, from 800 m and up, in the cloud forests 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

* [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?6678 "Lepidorrhachis" on NPGS/GRIN]
* [http://data.gbif.org/species/14721866 GBIF Portal]
* [http://palmguide.org/genus.php?family=ARECACEAE&genus=Lepidorrhachis Fairchild Guide to Palms: "Lepidorrhachis"]
* [http://www.pacsoa.org.au/palms/Lepidorrhachis/mooreana.html PACSOA: "Lepidorrhachis mooreana"]