Plectocomiopsis
| Plectocomiopsis | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Arecales |
| Family: | Arecaceae |
| Subfamily: | Calamoideae |
| Tribe: | Calameae |
| Genus: | Plectocomiopsis Becc.[1]
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| Species | |
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Plectocomiopsis is a dioecious
Description
The stems are small, densely clustering, spiny, and high climbing with long internodes and conspicuous scars. Young leaves are undivided or with few segments, in maturity becoming pinnate and cirrate with a tubular, unarmed or sparsely armed, scaly leaf sheath. Ocreas present, entire or becoming tattered. The petiole, when present, and the proximal end of the rachis are deeply channeled and spiny; the cirrus and distal end of the rachis are armed with regularly arranged reflexed climbing spines. The single fold, lanceolate leaflets may be few to numerous, usually with armed margins and caducous scales, with conspicuous midribs and transverse veinlets.
The inflorescence is produced at the top of the stem amongst the most distal, often reduced leaves, axis adnate to the internode and emerging from the leaf sheath mouth. The peduncle is short, the prophyll is tubular and two-keeled, peduncular bracts usually absent, and the rachis is much longer than the peduncle. The rachis bracts are tubular and more or less distichous, each subtending a horizontal or pendulous first order branch which features basal, tubular bracts with triangular limbs carrying monopodial flower clusters. In P. corneri the inflorescence is branched to three orders instead of two, with flowers borne on the axes of all orders.
The male flowers are arranged in clusters of up to 32, each flower held in a cuplike rachilla bract with a two-keeled bracteole. The calyx is thick, leathery and tubular, with three lobes, and abaxially covered in scaly trichomes; the corolla is similar, with two distal splits forming three triangle shaped lobes, also bearing scales. The six stamens are laterally fused forming a tube which is tipped by six free, reflexed filaments with short, oblong anthers. The pollen is discate[check spelling] and elliptic with tectate exine; pistillode minute.[3]
Female flowers are usually borne in clusters of two to four but may be solitary, and, like the male's, are carried in cuplike
Distribution and habitat
Plectocomiopsis triquetra and P. wrayi are low land peat swamp forest inhabitants, the former in Borneo, the latter in Malaysia. P. corneri and P. mira are Dipterocarp forest dwellers to 700 m, and P. geminiflora is distributed through a variety of tropical forest types to 1200 m.[3]
Cultivation and uses
The Plectocomiopsis species are not usually cultivated, being extremely spiny and requiring particular tropical conditions. In their natural range they are used in basketry, however their fragile nature prevents them from being a common rattan source. The palm heart of P. geminiflora, despite its bitter taste, is regarded as a delicacy in Borneo;[3] villagers regard some of the others as edible and some as poisonous.
References
- ^ Beccari in J.D. Hooker, Flora of British India 6:479. 1893.
- ^ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ^ ISBN 978-0-935868-30-2
- ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6
External links
- Plectocomiopsis on NPGS/GRIN
- GBIF portal
- Fairchild Guide to Palms: Plectocomiopsis
- Naturekind.org images
- "Projek Etnobotani Kinabalu: The making of a Dusun Ethnoflora (Sabah, Malaysia)". People and Plants Initiative. February 2002. pp. 67–68. Archived from the original on 2008-02-05. Retrieved 2008-04-07.