Editing Caryota rumphiana

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[[File:Caryota_rumphiana-01.jpg|frame|Figure 1. ''C. rumphiana '' in habitat, Lae, PNG.]]
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=== Distribution: ===
Restricted to subequatorial monsoonal
north-eastern Cape York Peninsula from Cape York south to the
MacIllwraith Range, usually east of the Great Divide and at
altitudes below 600m.
The only indigenous
Australian ''Caryota'' species is not endemic but has a wide
distribution through parts of Malesia and Melanesia -
''C. rumphiana'' Becc., the Australian population of which is
refered to ''var australasica'' Becc.

===Ecology:===
Commonly in lowland rainforest of varying soil
types, i.e. sandy, basaltic, granitic and alluvial, on a
range of aspects from flat to steep slopes. Also in
semi-deciduous vine forests, broad-leaved swamp forests and
brackish or fresh mangroves, contrary to previously published
accounts(3). The present sp. occurs as infrequent to frequent
scattered individuals or small to large groups, apparently
never forming stands. It is particularly abundant in the
Bamaga and Iron Range areas where it is a common but not
dominant member of the rainforest communities. Pollination is
by insect, seed dispersal by flood, birds or mammals.

===Description:===
A solitary stemmed tree to 15m. with the mode
at around 10-12m, leaves bipinnate, to 7m long but usually
3-5m. Flowers on apical and axillary bracteate inflorescences
with a rachis bearing many simple rachillae to 2m long.
Flowers unisexual, dimorphic in triads of two staminate
(male) and one pistillate (female) flowers. Fruits when ripe
globose, reddish pink, 2-3.5c m diam. with one to three
smooth black seeds.

===Habitat:===
In rainforest this species attains its maximum
development, being smaller in all respects in vine forests
(dry) or swampforests (wet) and is part of a typical
association, mainly with:''Ptychosperma macarthurii'',
''P. elegans'', ''Calamus aruensis'' (Bamaga area),
''C. australis'', ''C. caryotoides'', ''C. hollrungii''
and ''C. warburgii'' (Iron Range area),
''Pandanus zea'', ''Ficus nodosa'', ''Maniltoa lenticelata'',
''Buchanania arborescens'', etc. etc. In the vine forests
it is associated with ''Ptychosperma elegans'',
''Calamus australis'', ''C. caryotoides'', ''Pandanus conicus'',
''P. oblatus'', ''Aleurites moluccensis'',
''Bombax ceiba'', ''Adenanthera pavonina'',
''Ficus celbipila'' etc. etc. In swampforest it forms part of a
unique (for Australia) monocot-dominated community including
the palms ''Gulubia costata'', ''Hydriastele wendlandiana'',
''Ptychosperma macarthurii'',
''Licuala ramsayi'', ''Livistona benthamii'',
''Calamus aruensis'' (Bamaga), ''C. australis'',
''C. caryotoides'', ''C. hollrungii'' and ''C. warburgii''
(Iron Range) with the Pandans ''Pandanus zea'',
''P. lanterbachii'', ''P. conicus'',
''Freycinetia marginata'', ''F. percostata'' and the sedge
''Mapania macrocephala'', gingers of ''Achasma australasica'',
''Hornstedtia scottiana'' and ''Amommum dallachyi'',
sometimes with the dramatic fern ''Angiopteris evecta''.
In the brackish and fresh mangroves associate spp. are the
palms ''Nypa fruticans'', ''Ptychosperma macarthurii'',
''Livistona benthamii'' and ''Calamus caryotoides'',
trees of various mangrove spp. and emergent
''Melaleuca spp''.

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===Ethnobotany:===
While various spp. of ''Caryota'' are
utilized in other countries for their trunk reserves of
starch(4) which attains its maximum prior to flowering, this
starch being expressed as sago, apparently no such
technologies existed in Australia. It is however sometimes
planted as an ornamental. In the Iron Range area it is known
as "Kulandoi" while the Gudang people at lived in the
vicinity of Cape York called it "Damaraba".

===Taxonomic Status:===
''C. rumphiana'' is a widespread sp.
in parts of Indonesia and New Guinea to the Solomons. Without
having New Guinean material for comparison but having seen
photographs of ''var. papuana'' Becc. it seems possible
that the populations each side of Torres Strait are not
distinctly different. Future research into this sp. will
probably reduce the number of trinomials.
It should be
mentioned that a large percentage of the Cape York Peninsula
flora is actually Papuan and of recent establishment.
''C. rumphiana'' var. ''australiasica'' performs
exceedingly well under cultivation in the tropics and is one
of the fastest growing palms I have ever tried. One can
expect the seed to germinate within two months of sowing and
the seedlings can be planted out in one year by which time
they are about 1. 5 - 2m tall and have bipinnate leaves.
The tree also grows rapidly, which is unfortunate as it dies
after flowering, a process which lasts for two years and
begins in 6-8 years after planting out, probably less in the
wild. However in subtropical areas the plants should be
somewhat slower in all respects.
Light shade is desirable for juveniles but adults can take
full sun. Unfortunately the leaves are easily damaged by wind
so a sheltered site is preferable. The plant is more
attractive than ''C. urens'', having flatter, broader
leaves with more regularly inserted leaf rachillae. Good soil
nutrition and regular watering are needed to prevent the
leaves from becoming yellowish in full sun situations. The
leaves, although larger than ''C. mitis'' present no
problem with disposal, likewise the trunk which is less bulby
than ''C. urens''. As I know of a specimen of
''C. rumphiana'' (from Iron Range) that is thriving in Atherton,
a rather cold place, I feel it should accommodate itself
easily to southern Queensland.

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[[File:Caryota_rumphiana2-01.jpg|frame|]]
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[[File:Caryota_rumphiana3-01.jpg|frame|]]
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Figure 1. Seed collector climbing tree
(he is actually there)
Figure 2. Seed collector cutting infructescence.
(Click image for larger version.)

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[[File:Caryota_rumphiana1-01.jpg|frame|Figure 3. Success]]
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[[File:Caryota_rumphianaB.jpg|frame|(he is actually there)]]
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[[File:Caryota_rumphianaB02.jpg|frame|]]
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[[File:Caryota_rumphianaB03.jpg|frame|Figure 3. Success]]
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===References: ===
1. In the heading and subsequent text I
attribute the species to Odoardo Beccar; (1843--7920),
however the author is sometimes cited as Mart. (Karl
Friedrich Philipp von Marflus). The specific epiphet is
sometimes (incorrectly) spelled rumfiana.<br/>
2. ''Caryotoid'' is a Group without taxonomic rank but
more or less equivalent to subamily see Ed Moore, Jr.
''The Major Groups of Palms and their Distribution'' (reprinted
and repaged from Trentes Herbarum 11(2): 27-141 1973) for
this classification system.<br/>
3. Cavacevich. J. M and Jeanette Cavacevich.
''Principes''. 22(3), 1978. pp. 88-93. In this paper
''C. rumphiana'' is stated to be confined to riverine
closed forests which is incorrect.<br/>
4. Ruddle, Kenneth et al,
''Palm sago - A tropical starch from Marginal Lands'',
A.N.U. Press and The University Press of Hawaii.
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===Contributed by: ===
Robert Tucker (Text - from '''''Palms & Cycads''''' No. 1, Feb 1984).<br/>
Rolf Kyburz, '''''<br/>'''''
(Figure 1)

===External Links:===
[https://powo.science.kew.org/results?q=Caryota%20rumphiana Kew], 
[https://www.palmweb.org//?q=cdm_dataportal/taxon/75ddcbc3-c083-45e1-8734-a4c8899ccd3a PalmWeb],
[https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=Caryota+rumphiana JSTOR],
[https://www.trebrown.com/plant_info.php?species=Caryota+rumphiana Trebrown]
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[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Caryota+rumphiana%22&amp;num=10&amp;sa=Google+Search Google],
[https://images.google.com/images?q=%22Caryota+rumphiana%22&amp;hl=en&amp;btnG=Google+Search GoogleImages],
[https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Caryota+rumphiana Flickr],
[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Caryota+rumphiana%22%20site:https://www.palmtalk.org/&amp;sa=Google+Search PalmTalk]
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[[Category:Caryota|rumphiana]]
[[Category:Palm|Caryota_rumphiana]]