Rhapis excelsa
Rhapis excelsa
Rhapis excelsa is a species of the palm family ( Arecaceae ). It is a popular houseplant.
Description
Rhapis excelsa are woody plants. In general, the growth habit is shrubby from a variety of standing together individual tribes. This reach stature heights between 90 and 120 centimeters and girth of up to 8 inches. The stems are densely covered with dry leaf sheaths and coarse fibers.
The leaves are large fronds ( palm fronds ), which are about 30 inches long. They are green on both sides and divided into six to nine leaflets on the leaf stem. The leaflets are relatively uniform, curved or droopy and widened at the top. The Hastula ( a Blatthäutchenähnliche education on the petioles of many fan palms ) is fibrous. The petiole is about 20 inches long and plugs into the base in a fibrous, cocoa colored leaf sheath enclosing the stem axis.
Rhapis excelsa is monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). The blooms are triple seated and yellow in color. The male flowers have a three-piece, cup-like calyx and a dreigelappte crown. In the male flowers have six stamens. There are small, glandular stamp rudiments.
The female flowers are very similar, but the cup is stalked and the carpels are clearly visible with a short style, but without stamens.
The indehiscent fruits are small, with a soft pericarp and a spherical, about 3 millimeters in diameter seeds. The endosperm is homogeneous.
Dissemination
The original home is today's People's Republic of China and the Indochinese Peninsula. The occurrence in Japan and the Malay Archipelago is unclear whether they are natural or introduced. Sure neophytisch are the deposits in Pakistan.
System
This species was described in 1784 by Carl Peter Thunberg as Chamaerops excelsa. This taxon was until about 1850 as a synonym for Rhapis until Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius described the Chusan Palm ( Trachycarpus ) under this name. After the hemp palm trees were provided by Hermann Wendland in the new genus Trachycarpus 1861, was the name Chamaerops exelsa from then on as a synonym or as the basionym for Trachycarpus fortunei Trachycarpus excelsa respectively. Later, it turned out, however, that Thunberg had described with Chamaerops excelsa in reality two Rhapisarten: Rhapis excelsa and humilis Rhapis. Augustine Henry used the new nomenclature for the first time in 1913 in the book " The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland ". This revision was published, but is valid only after the death of Augustine Herny at his request, by Alfred Rehder in the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum.
Since then, Chamaerops excelsa Thunb. the basionym and a synonym for Rhapis excelsa.
In particular, in Italy and Spain Trachycarpus fortunei but today almost exclusively referred to as Chamaerops excelsa, and arrives usually also under that name in the trade. Therefore, today is still the misconception widespread, Chamaerops excelsa is a synonym for the Windmill Palm Trachycarpus fortunei.
Another synonym for Rhapis excelsa is Rhapis flabelliformis L' Hér. ex Aiton, Trachycarpus excelsus ( Thunb. ) H. Wendl.
Use
This species is a popular houseplant, especially in conservatories. It tolerates shady locations and is relatively cold- tolerant.