Plectocomiopsis

Plectocomiopsis is a native of Asia, climbing palm species.

• 5.1 Notes and references

Features

The representatives are multi-stemmed, high climbing Rattanpalmen. You are hapaxanth, so bloom only once in life, and dioecious. The trunk is often triangular, has long internodes and conspicuous leaf scars. At basal leaf axils spring side branches.

The chromosome number is unknown ( as of 2008).

The leaves on mature, climbing stems are pinnate and bear a tendril. The leaf sheath is Roehrig, rather weakly reinforced to unreinforced. A knee is missing, a Ochrea is available. The petiole may be absent, stem and lower part of the rachis are deeply furrowed. The upper part and the vine are regularly occupied with backward spines. The sheet consists of few to numerous leaflets. These are simply folded, lanceolate and entire.

Inflorescences

The inflorescences arise simultaneously in the axils of the distal, often reduced leaves of the tribe. They are simple, rarely twice branched. The peduncle is short. The cover page is Roehrig, zweikielig and remains within the leaf sheath of the liner sheet. Bracts on the inflorescence stem missing. The inflorescence axis is substantially longer than the peduncle. The bracts on the axis Roehrig, are approximately double line ( distich ) and each carry a horizontal or rather hanging side branch first order. These have a cover page and zweikieliges distiche, tubed bracts, each of which carries a flower cluster. Only in Plectocomiopsis corneri the inflorescences are again branched and bear flowers on the side axes of all orders. The flower cluster is monopodial and corresponds to a contracted Rachilla.

Flowers

The male flowers are approximately distich in groups of up to 32 flowers. Each flower stands in the axil of a cup-shaped bract - Rachilla, also it has a cup-shaped also, zweikielige Brakteole. The cup is thick, strong leathery, Roehrig with three short lobes. The abaxial side is often occupied with scale-like trichomes. The crown is thick, leathery and grown over almost the entire length into a tube. It is manned with scale-like trichomes. The six stamens are epipetal and are laterally fused together to form a tube, six short free stamens are at the end with short anthers. The pollen is ellipsoidal and bisymmetrical. The longest axis measures 19 to 34 microns.

The female flowers are individually rare, but usually in groups of two to four flowers, each in the axil of a cup-shaped bract with a zweikieligen Brakteole, rarely with a second, then very small Brakteole. The cup is Roehrig, thick and leathery. He remains in the ripe fruit and enlarged and cleaves itself. The crown is also thick and leathery, with three short lobes. Calyx and corolla are occupied with scale-like trichomes. The gynoecium is ovoid to cylindrical, occupied in the heyday only on the basis of the three scars with scales. The three fruit compartments are incompletely separated, each having a anatrope, standing basal ovule.

Fruit and seeds

The fruit is usually one seed, rarely zweisamig. The perianth remains. Sit scar remains at the top. The exocarp is staffed with somewhat irregular vertical rows of downward-facing shed. The mesocarp is thin, endocarp is not differentiated. The seed sits basal and mostly spherical. The sarcotesta is thick, but not juicy. The endosperm is homogeneous.

Dissemination and locations

The representatives are native to Southeast Asia: Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. They grow mainly in disturbed habitats of primary forests. The two types Plectocomipsis triquetra and Plectocomiopsis wrayi are limited to the lowland swamp forests of Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. Plectocomiopsis geminiflora grows in a wide variety of forest types in up to 1200 m above sea level, while the other two species occur only locally in lowland dipterocarp forests up to 700 m.

System

The genus Plectocomiopsis is placed in the subfamily Calamoideae, Tribe Calameae within the family Arecaceae. They, together with the genera Myrialepis and Plectocomia the subtribe Plectocomiinae. The relationships between the three genera are unclear. The monophyly of Plectocomiopsis has not yet been studied ( as of 2008).

In the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the following types are recognized:

• Plectocomiopsis corneri
• Geminiflora Plectocomiopsis
• Plectocomiopsis mira
• Plectocomiopsis triquetra
• Plectocomiopsis wrayi

Use

The shoot tips of Plectocomiopsis geminiflora are estimated to Borneo as a vegetable even though they are bitter. Other species are considered depending on the area as tasty or toxic.

The tribes are not suitable for use as rattan, as they splinter easily.

Documents

• John Dransfield, Natalie W. Uhl, Conny B. Asmussen, William J. Baker, Madeline M. Harley, Carl E. Lewis: Genera palmarum. The Evolution and Classification of Palms. Second edition, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2008, ISBN 978-1-84246-182-2, pp. 188-190.