Editing Caryota ophiopellis

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[[File:Caryota_ophiopellis.jpg|frame|Figure 1. ''C. ophiopellis'' petiole close-up.]]
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===Common Names:===
Snake-skin Palm

===Distribution & Habitat:===
Lowland rainforest of Vanuatu's southern Islands; Tanna, and Aneityum.
Tanna is well populated, and here the palm is quite rare,
although occasionally seen by the roadside, and in creek beds.
It is a very long day walk to a small population of 3 palms,
and at least a 2-day walk (i.e. 2 days there, 2 days back)
to any larger populations. The natives grow the palm here,
because of its attractiveness. Aneityum is far less populated,
and consequently is a much wilder and more remote island,
and here the palms are found in much greater numbers.
It is found from sea level up to about 400m, but mainly at sea level,
and often very close to the ocean, where it is subject to salt-spray
and high winds. The soils tend to be rather poor, old volcanic soils.
The climate is cool tropical, with 500 - 600 mm of rain per year,
mostly falling in summer, the winters being rather dry. It is found in
close proximity to 2 other species of palm,
''Veitchia spiralis''
(by far the most common/dominant palm), and
''Carpoxylon macrospermum''.

===Description:===
It is a 7-8 metre high, single stemmed understorey palm (it has never been
observed breaking the canopy), with a very neat leaflet arrangement
(in contrast to most other ''Caryota'').
In many respects it is a missing link between ''Arenga''
and ''Caryota'', because the
inflorescence is branching as in ''Arenga''
, while the fruit is closer
in structure to ''Arenga''
than to ''Caryota''
as well. It is a very
isolated ''Caryota''
, with its nearest relative being found on
the Solomon Islands. This distinct gap between closely relatived plants
is rather typical of South Pacific island palms, because so many have
developed in considerable isolation.
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===General:===
The banding on the petioles is almost identical to a local snake,
the only South Pacific python, known locally as ''In-reg-jay''.
This is a very common, slow moving, non-aggressive snake,
with the Vanuatu version being much more stripped than is normal .
See also ''Caryota zebrina'', another "stripped" ''Caryota''.

===Culture:===
This palm, being an understorey plant from the cool tropics,
would like a warm sheltered position, in a moist, well drained soil.
It has been grown in full sun positions, however it tends to become
rather weather beaten, and not as attractive as plants grown in
more sheltered positions.
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[[File:Caryota_ophiopellis02.jpg|frame|Figure 2. ''C. ophiopellis'' leaves]]
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[[File:Caryota_ophiopellis03.jpg|frame|Figure 3. ''C. ophiopellis'' petiole close-up.]]
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[[File:Caryota_ophiopellis04.jpg|frame|Figure 4. ''C. ophiopellis'' petiole close-up.]]
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===Contributed by: ===
John Dowe (the original discoverer of the palm) (Text)<br/>
Mike Gray (Figure 1)<br/>
Justen Dobbs (Figure 2)<br/>
Mike Brett, '''MB Palms''', (Figure 3&4)


===External Links:===
[https://powo.science.kew.org/results?q=Caryota%20ophiopellis Kew], 
[https://www.palmweb.org//?q=cdm_dataportal/taxon/fdc97b40-53cd-4050-bbf7-c948b1117f6d PalmWeb],
[https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=Caryota+ophiopellis JSTOR],
[https://www.trebrown.com/plant_info.php?species=Caryota+ophiopellis Trebrown]
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[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Caryota+ophiopellis%22&amp;num=10&amp;sa=Google+Search Google],
[https://images.google.com/images?q=%22Caryota+ophiopellis%22&amp;hl=en&amp;btnG=Google+Search GoogleImages],
[https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Caryota+ophiopellis Flickr],
[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Caryota+ophiopellis%22%20site:https://www.palmtalk.org/&amp;sa=Google+Search PalmTalk]
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[[Category:Caryota|ophiopellis]]
[[Category:Palm|Caryota_ophiopellis]]