Laccosperma secundiflorum Information

Laccosperma secundiflorum Information

Identification:
Clustered moderate to robust palm, climbing to 25-50 m. Stems without sheaths 20-25 mm in diameter; with 30-35 mm; internodes 18-35 cm long. Leaf sheath dark green, lightly striate, moderately to sparsely armed with black-tipped finely triangular, upward-pointing or spreading spines; sheaths on upper portion of stem more sparsely armed; sparse black indumentum present on mature sheaths; ocrea 25-35 cm long, dry, often tattering, gradually tapering at the apex, dark tan coloured without, shiny dark brown to dull maroon within, armed as the sheath, spines concentrated at apex. Leaves up to 3.5 m long; petiole 30-60 cm long, 1.5-1.8 cm wide, commonly at 45-60� angle to the sheath, light to mid-green to straw coloured often with scattered brown indumentum below, abaxially rounded, adaxially concave, becoming flattened, somewhat rectangular in cross section distally, armed along the margins with inequidistant black-tipped spines up to 1.8 cm long, angular, spreading in many directions; rachis up to 1.2-1.5m long, hexagonal in cross section proximally becoming trapezoid then rounded in cross section distally, armed as the petiole, spines becoming increasingly short and more sparse distally; cirrus up to 1.5-1.8 m long, armed on the underside with inequidistant, reflexed, black-tipped spines, with sparse brown indumentum below; leaflets composed of 2-4 folds, 25-40 on each side of the rachis, equidistant, often variable in width, arching from the rachis, not strictly pendulous, sigmoid, elongate, leaflet apex very finely acuminate with tip often breaking off, 35-45 cm long by 3-8 cm broad at the widest point, concolourous or somewhat discolourous with a darker green adaxial surface, leaflet margin armed with fine to robust, 1-2 mm long, forward-facing, equidistant black-tipped spines, 1,2 or 3 costulate, each vein armed as the leaflet margin; acanthophylls, up to 4 cm long. Inflorescences, numbering 6-10, produced simulataneously in the distal 1-1.8 m portion of stem; peduncle 15-20 cm long; prophyll 8-10 cm; rachis branches 25-35 cm long, perpendicular to the main axis; rachis bracts 2.5-3 cm long, decreasing distally, dry, often tattering, tapering to form an elongate acutely triangular lobe on the abaxial side, closely adpressed to the bract above, covered with a dense brown indumetum; rachillae 15-25 cm long, pendulous, densely covered with imbricate bracts ca. 7 mm long, dry and triangular at apex, each with a wide opening and a 1.5 mm long apiculum. Flowers at anthesis 1-1.2 cm - 3.0-3.5 mm; calyx 5-5.5 mm long, excluding angular 3 mm long stalk, 3-3.5 mm wide, dark tan coloured, tubular in the basal 1.5-2 mm, with 3 longitudinally-striate or mottled rounded to bluntly triangular lobes � 4.5 mm by 3 mm; corolla tubular in the basal 1 mm only, with 3 valvate lobes, white or pale cream, longitudinally striate or mottled, � 9 mm by 2 mm with a bluntly acuminate tip; stamen filaments dark brown, 4 mm by 1 mm, united into a 2 mm long basal tube; anthers 3 mm by 1 mm; ovary ca. 1 mm in diameter, stigma up to 5 mm long. Fruit ovoid, 1.8-2 cm by 1.3-1.5 cm, with 18-22 vertical rows of scales. Seed smooth, ovoid, 1-1.2 cm long, 0.8-1.2 cm wide, 0.5-0.7 mm deep, lightly flattened on one side.

General Information:
Laccosperma secundiflorum is a species of high forest, and is commonly found under a forest canopy.

Distribution:

Native to, Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo

This species is distributed from Senegal to Cameroon south to Democratic Republic of Congo.

Location: Central Africa (4.001626°N, 2.900391°E)

Observations