Livistona endauensis J.Dransf. & K.M.Wong, Malayan Nat. J. 41: 121 (1987)

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Content

Distribution

Map uses TDWG level 3 distributions (https://github.com/tdwg/wgsrpd)
Malaya present (World Checklist of Arecaceae)B
Malaysia. In Johore at Ulu Endau, on Gunung Janing, Gunung Janing Barat and Bukit Peta, and the eastern hills of Trengganu at Bukit Bauk (Dowe, J.L.: A taxonomic account of Livistona R.Br. (Arecaceae))A

Habitat

  • In rainforest at 90-660 m alt. Flowers all year; fruits all year. (Dowe, J.L.: A taxonomic account of Livistona R.Br. (Arecaceae))A

Discussion

  • Livistona endauensis was described by Dransfield and Wong (1987) from a population on Gunung Janing in the Ulu Endau area, Johore, Malaysia, based on the collection Dransfield JD5089. In the protologue, a population of a then unidentified Livistona in Trengganu was compared to this taxon, though maintained as distinct pending further study. Subsequent examination of collections from Trengganu confirmed it as the same taxon, and therefore giving the species a disjunct range in eastern Peninsular Malaysia. Livistona endauensis is a moderate sub-canopy palm to 15 m tall; leaves are large and regularly segmented; segment apices are rigid to pendulous, and with a bifurcate cleft to 8% of the segment length; the inflorescence is unbranched, not extending beyond the limit of the crown, and with about 8 partial inflorescences; bracts are loosely tubular; flowers are golden yellow; fruit are obovoid to pyriform, to 16mm long to 14 mm wide, and bluish green at maturity. (Dowe, J.L.: A taxonomic account of Livistona R.Br. (Arecaceae))A

Conservation

  • Lower risk, near threatened. (Dowe, J.L.: A taxonomic account of Livistona R.Br. (Arecaceae))A

Description

  • Hermaphroditic palm. Trunk to 15 m tall, 12-20 cm dbh, leaf scars obscure, internodes narrow, pale grey brown, petiole stubs at first persistent at the base only, but deciduous with age, vertical fissures shallow. Leaves ca 75 in a globose to conical crown; petiole ca 175 cm long, arching, orange to reddish-brown, ca 15 mm wide by 12 mm wide, triangular in cross-section, adaxially concave, covered in thin, caducous, grey-brown indumentum, margins unarmed in the distal half, armed in the proximal half with single retrorsely recurved black spines, regularly spaced, 10- 14 mm long, 6-15 mm apart, distally becoming more widely separated; leaf-base fibres prominent, coarse, disintegrating; distally the fibres form a triangular, chocolate-brown appendage to 35 cm long, to 10 cm wide; lamina costapalmate, regularly segmented, circular to subcircular in outline, ca 100 cm long, slightly undulate, adaxially bright green, abaxially lighter green, glabrous on both surfaces; lamina divided for ca 61% of its length, with 60-70 segments, depth of apical cleft ca 8% of the segment length, apical lobes rigid to occasionally pendulous through damage or age; midleaf segments ca 3 cm wide where the segments diverge; outer segments ca 0.8 cm wide where the segments diverge; parallel veins 4-5 each side of mid rib; transverse veins thinner than parallel veins; hastula conspicuous, ca 10 mm high, triangular, crescent shaped. Inflorescences unbranched at the base, to 150 cm long, not extending beyond the limit of the crown, arching, branched to 3 orders; partial inflorescences ca 8; peduncle ca 60 cm long, laterally compressed at the base, 3 cm wide by 0.5 cm thick, ca 2.5 cm wide distally by 1.0 cm thick; prophyll tubular, 30 cm long by 2.5 cm thick, dark brown, glabrous except for scattered caducous rust coloured indumentum; peduncular bract(s) lacking; rachis bracts tubular, glabrous; partial inflorescences to ca 35 cm long; rachillae 6-10 cm long, ca 0.25 cm diameter, rigid, yellow, pubescent. Flowers solitary or in clusters of 2-3, sessile, globular, ca 1 mm high, 1.5 mm wide, golden yellow; calyx basally tubular, ca 0.3 mm high, glabrous, 3-lobed, lobes triangular to 0.4 mm long by 1 mm wide; petals broadly triangular, to 1 mm long by 0.8 mm wide, glabrous, abaxially rugulate, adaxially striate; stamens basally fused to form a tube ca 0.4 mm high; filaments very short, free; anthers ca 0.1 mm diam.; carpels ca 0.6 mm high, style to ca 0.2 mm high, stigma punctiform. Fruit obovoid to pyriform, ca 16 mm long, 14 mm wide, bluish green; epicarp smooth, wrinkled on drying; mesocarp ca 2 mm wide; endocarp crustaceous ca 1 mm wide; pedicel 1-2 mm long. Seed globose, ca 1 cm diam., intruded shallowly by the testa. Eophyll 5-ribbed. (Dowe, J.L.: A taxonomic account of Livistona R.Br. (Arecaceae))A

Materials Examined

  • Specimens examined: MALAYSIA: Trengganu. Kuala Dungun, Bukit Bauk, 350 m alt., Dransfield 915 (K); Dungun, Bukit Bauk, ridge top, Dransfield 5184 (K); Dungun Bukit Bauk, Kamarudin 31445 (K); Kemaman, Compt. 4, Rasau Kerteh Ulu Chukai Forest Reserve, Meijer & Yong 94940 (K, KEP, L, SING); Pahang, Lesong Forest Reserve, Ulu Sg. Teroh, Wong 32280 (K); location not given, ?ridge-top vegetation?, Saw 34174 (K); Johore. Kuala Jasin, S. Endau, 300 ft (c. 90 m) alt., 12 Nov 1972, Heaslett & Ahmad Shukor s.n. (SING); Gunung Janing, Ulu Endau, Dransfield JD5089 (K holotype, KEP); Gunung Janing via Kahang, 350 ft (ca 110 m) alt., Heaslett, Shah, Samsuri & Shukor 2609 (SING); Gunung Janing Barat, steep slope near summit, Kiew 1912 (K); Hutan Simpan Labis, sandstone plateau S of Gunung Janing, Wong 32461 (K). (Dowe, J.L.: A taxonomic account of Livistona R.Br. (Arecaceae))A

Bibliography

    A. Dowe, J.L.: A taxonomic account of Livistona R.Br. (Arecaceae)
    B. World Checklist of Arecaceae