Phoenix roebelenii
Pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii )
The dwarf date palm (Phoenix roebelenii ) is a native to Southeast Asia palm that is often used as an ornamental plant.
Features
The dwarf date palm is a multi-stemmed palm, in culture, they sometimes remains single-stemmed. It forms clumps where stemless shoots grow around the base of higher strains. The stem is 1-2, rarely to 3 m high. The diameter is without leaf sheaths to 10 cm. The stem is erect or twisted, bright, aged becoming smooth. He is busy with diamond- shaped leaf bases.
The leaves are rounded, 1 to 1.5, rarely 2 m long. The pseudo- stem is about 50 cm long. The leaf sheath is reddish brown and fibrous. The Akanthophylle ( converted thorns leaflets ), either singly or in pairs, about 12 on each side of the rachis. They are orange-green and up to 8 cm long. The leaflets are regularly opposite, around 25 to 50 on each side of the rachis. They are linear, deep green to 40 cm long and 1.2 cm wide.
The species is dioecious, like all date palms getrenntgeschlechtig ( dioecious ). The male inflorescences are pendulous. The cover page is coriaceous, zweikielig, split between these once, and about 30 to 60 cm long. The peduncle is long up to 30 cm. The lateral axis is 7 to 20 cm long. The male flowers have a tricuspid chalice beaker of 1.2 mm height and yellow- white in color. The petals are yellow white with pointed ends. They are 7 to 8 mm long and 2 to 2.5 mm wide. The anthers are 3.5 to 4 mm long.
The female inflorescences are upright and arching to fruit ripening. They are long up to 35 cm. The cover page is coriaceous, zweikielig and up to 35 cm long and 5 cm wide. It splits between the keels and so dismisses the inflorescence into the open. The inflorescence stem is green and up to 30 x 3 cm. The side axes have a bulbous base, are orange-green and sometimes simply branched. The female flowers are pale green and are in the distal three -fourths of the lateral axes. They are in the axils of up to 5 mm long papery bracts. The cup is a cup dreizipfeliger and 2 to 2.5 mm high. The petals are 3.5 x 4 mm in size and have pointed ends. It always matures only one carpel to fruit.
The fruit is obovate, the perianth remains. In the course of ripening, the color changes to purple - brown of dark green. The fruit is 13 to 18 x 6-7 mm in size. The seed is narrow and long, circular in cross section, with rounded ends.
Dissemination and locations
The dwarf date palm is in the north of Laos ( Nam Ou valley), Vietnam ( near Lai Chau, Lai Chau ) and in the south of China ( Xishuangbanna region of Yunnan ). It occurs mainly along the banks of the Mekong. It grows along rivers or on cliffs, on sites that are at least temporarily flooded. So it is a Rheophyt. This is an unusual growth form of palm trees.
Barrow took the view in 1998 that due to the small area of distribution and the collection of wild plants for trading classification is justified as being at risk ( vulnerable ). The IUCN does not lead the way in their Red List.
System
The species was first described in 1889 by James O'Brien. He named it after the orchid hunter Carl Roebelen (1855-1927), who collected the first specimens of this species in Laos.
Use
The dwarf date palm is a popular ornamental plant in Europe. It can be found in botanical gardens and private collections worldwide.
The forms contained in culture, often single-stemmed may be the result of hybridization with other species. It is relatively insensitive to cold for a tropical species and can survive light frosts. It requires a lot of water.
Documents
- Sasha C. Barrow: A Monograph of Phoenix L. ( Palmae: Coryphoideae ). Kew Bulletin, Volume 53, 1998, pp. 513-575. ( JSTOR )