Livistona tahanensis

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Livistona tahanensis
Livistona tahanensis
Natural History Museum (London)

Conservation Dependent  (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Tribe: Trachycarpeae
Genus: Livistona
Species:
L. tahanensis
Binomial name
Livistona tahanensis
Becc.[2]

Livistona tahanensis is a species of medium-sized palm tree of the genus Livistona, found on only one mountain top in Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia.[1][3] In Malay the palm is known as Tahan serdang,[3][4][5] or as daun tau.[4][5]

T.C. Whitmore, writing in 1970, describes that the palms are seen after a four days' hike from Kuala Tahan, up the ridge behind Kuala Teku through tall

elfin forest, the stiff crowns of Tahan serdang grow as emergents, and the air is filled with the sound of the wind sighing through them.[3]

The palm hearts are eaten by wild elephants.

Taxonomy

Livistona tahanensis was first formally described as a new species by the Italian palm specialist Odoardo Beccari in 1921.[2][4][6] The name had in fact already been used in 1915 by Henry Nicholas Ridley, published in An annotated list of plants of Gunung Tahan, Pahang, Malaysia, with the understanding that Beccari would soon provide a description.[4][7]

The holotype was collected by L. Wray and H. C. Robinson at 1,000 metres altitude on Gunung Tahan, it is their collection number 5355,[4][6][7] and it was kept at the herbarium of the Perak Museum in Malaysia.[6]

Description

This plant is a medium-sized, hermaphrodite fan palm, which grows up to 7.6–8 metres (25–26 ft) in height, with a 12 centimetres (4.7 in) trunk diameter at breast height.[3][4][7] The trunk has narrow leaf scars, and a narrow amount of space between each successive one,[4] although this is usually obscured by the petiole stubs, which remain persistent, not falling off, for most of the length.[4][7] The crown of the palm is globose (round), and it contains some 30 to 40 leaves.[4]

The leaves are

appressed hyaline (glassy-looking) scales, with ciliate hairs along their margins. Both left and right edges of the petiole have short, flat, brown, blunt, triangular, 5-8mm long spines down their entire length, these spines reduce in size as they march towards the leaf blade.[4] The sheath is coloured dark, chocolate brown.[3] The 'appendages', a bundle of fibres forming tongue-like straps on either side of the leaf-base, are bright mahogany red, and are polished on both sides. It is very long and membranous.[4] The leaf or petiole-bases remain on the trunk for very many years,[4][7] these have fine, prominent fibres, and slowly disintegrate on the tree as opposed to eventually falling off in one piece.[4]

The 80–91 centimetres (31–36 in) long

style is short, and conic in shape.[4]

The

epicarp has a smooth surface marked with lip-like structures, with a suture line which extends for the full length of the fruit.[4]

Distribution

Livistona tahanensis is

endemic to Gunong Tahan, a mountain in the state of Pahang, in the east of Peninsular Malaysia.[3][4][8] It is only found between Tangga Lima Belas and Pangkin camps.[9]

In the limited territory where it is known to grow it is common.[3]

Ecology

The preferred

elfin forest',[3] on exposed ridges.[9] The palm can be found growing at 900 to 1,400 metres, in some sheltered areas to 1,500 metres, in altitude.[3][4][9] The stunted nature of the forest in this area of the Gunong Tahan is due to an underlying outcropping of quartzite, resistant to weathering, which cause the soil in this area to be composed of a layer of peat several feet thick, and nothing else upon the bedrock.[3] It is moist in these montane forests.[4] Here, the stiff crowns of Tahan serdang grow as emergents,[3] and are a significant, even dominant, part of the canopy.[4][9]

There are wild elephants up on this mountain, and they destroy the plants by eating the cabbages and hearts of the palm.[3][4]

Conservation

It is likely naturally restricted in distribution, but it is common where it occurs.

conservation dependent'.[1][4] It was not evaluated in the Malaysia Plant Red List, published 2010.[5]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1998.RLTS.T38599A10131450.en
    . Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Livistona tahanensis". International Plant Names Index. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries and Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-19-580368X
    .
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar "Livistona tahanensis Becc. Webbia 5: 17 (1921)". Palmweb. Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Aarhus University. 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "Livistona tahanensis Becc. - Arecaceae". Malaysia Biodiversity Information System (MyBIS). Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (KeTSA). 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  6. ^
    doi:10.1080/00837792.1921.10669576
    . Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Dowe, John Leslie (2009). "A taxonomic account of Livistona R.Br. (Arecaceae)" (PDF). Gardens' Bulletin Singapore. 60: 246–247. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Livistona tahanensis Becc". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  9. ^
    ISSN 1823-7975
    . Retrieved 9 October 2020.


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