Laccospadix is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm endemic to Queensland.[2] Only one species is known, Laccospadix australasicus, commonly called Atherton palm or Queensland kentia. The two Greek words from which it is named translate to "reservoir" and "spadix".
Laccospadix | |
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Laccospadix australasicus, Herberton Range | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Arecales |
Family: | Arecaceae |
Subfamily: | Arecoideae |
Tribe: | Areceae |
Subtribe: | Linospadicinae |
Genus: | Laccospadix H.Wendl. & Drude[1] |
Species: | L. australasicus |
Binomial name | |
Laccospadix australasicus | |
Synonyms[2] | |
Laccospadix australasicus may be solitary or clustering, in the former the trunks will grow to around 10 cm in width while clustering plants are closer to 5 cm wide. The trunks may be dark green to almost black at the base, lightening with age, and conspicuously ringed by leaf scars. Lone trunks will reach 7 m in height while the suckering varieties grow to 3.5 m. The leaves are pinnate, emerging erect with a slight arch, to 2 m on 1 m or less petioles; the petioles and rachises are usually covered in scales. The new foliage is often red to bronze, a feature more common in solitary individuals.[3]
The inflorescence is a long, unbranched spike, emerging within the leaf crown, to a meter long, carrying male and female flowers, both with three sepals and three longer petals. Laccospadix fruit is slightly ovoid, one-seeded and bright red, with a smooth epicarp and a thin fleshy mesocarp.[4]
Found in Queensland, Australia at elevations of 800–1400 m in humid rain forest, they grow on mountains and plateau where they receive little light.
Arecaceae genera | |||||||||||||||||
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Baker & Dransfield (2016) taxonomy | |||||||||||||||||
Calamoideae |
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Nypoideae | |||||||||||||||||
Coryphoideae |
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Ceroxyloideae |
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Arecoideae |
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Taxon identifiers | |
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Laccospadix |
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Laccospadix australasicus |
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