Editing Tectiphiala ferox

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[[File:Tectiphiala_ferox.jpg|frame|Figure 1. ''T. ferox'']]
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Discovered in 1969 by Marc D'Unienville, who was trying to
locate seed of ''Acanthophoenix''
for his friend Jean -
Alain Laloutte, he brought sample material of ''T. ferox''
to Mr.Laloutte, who recognised this as different to any other
palm found on Mauritius. Field studies of ''T. ferox''
placed it in the ''Oncosperma'' alliance of arecoid palms,
although studies of the pollen indicated that it was unlike
pollen of the ''Oncosperma'' type and showed more
resemblance to the pollen of Jessenia and Scheelea.

The late Harold Moore Jr. named this palm ''Tectiphiala''
from the Latin tectus (covered, concealed) and phiala (a flat
bottomed drinking vessel, saucer, bowl) with reference to the
side view of the flowers , which are at first obscured by the
overlapping buds.

This heavily armoured monoecious palm grows at a height of
500-650 metres above sea level, at two localities on the
central plateau, namely: Crown Land Declerc near Mare Longue
and Bois Sec which are protected reserves and where the last
herds of Java deer are to be found.
 
The central plateau receives an annual rainfall of 5000mm,
making access to these localities extremly difficult, as
these palms grow in very marshy conditions. The entire
natural occuring specimens number 28. The three palms visited
only had single stems although literature cites ''T. ferox''
as being cespitose with mostly two stems, one larger than the
other, covered with stiff grey-black spines 150mm long.
The spathe is up to 300mm long and is densely spiny. The
orange-yellow flowers are arranged in groups of two females
and one male, in six vertical rows throughout the rachillae.
The ovoid fruits are blue-black, 11mm long by 6mm in
diameter and have the scent of ripe blue berries. No seeds
were found in the vicinity of the adult plants but no doubt
these could have been scattered by the birds feeding on the
fruits.

An inspection of the soil revealed this to be heavy clay,
rich in Magnesium and more or less acidic.
It would appear that the requirements of
''Tectiphiala ferox'' are abnormally specific and
cultivation extremly difficult, although I have heard that
the Durban Botanic Garden has a seedling. It would be
wonderful to see this palm introduced into this garden.
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[[File:Tectiphiala_ferox03.jpg|frame|Figure 2. ''T. ferox'' showing the spiny trunk and crownshaft.]]
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[[File:Tectiphiala_ferox04.jpg|frame|Figure 3. ''T. ferox'' spiny petioles.]]
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[[File:Tectiphiala_ferox05.jpg|frame|Figure 4. ''T. ferox'' leaf detail.]]
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[[File:Tectiphiala_ferox02.jpg|frame|Figure 5. ''T. ferox'' younger plant.]]
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===Contributed by: ===
A. van Rensen (Text - from '''''Palms & Cycads''''' No. 12 July-Sept 1986).<br/>
Phillip Arrowsmith (Figure 1,2,3,4&5)<br/>


===External Links:===
[https://powo.science.kew.org/results?q=Tectiphiala%20ferox Kew], 
[https://www.palmweb.org//?q=cdm_dataportal/taxon/724e0165-afeb-4b36-9f03-3fe1b46f623b PalmWeb],
[https://e-monocot.org/taxon/urn:kew.org:wcs:taxon:202016 eMonocot],
[https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=Tectiphiala+ferox JSTOR],
[https://www.trebrown.com/plant_info.php?species=Tectiphiala+ferox Trebrown]
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[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Tectiphiala+ferox%22&amp;num=10&amp;sa=Google+Search Google],
[https://images.google.com/images?q=%22Tectiphiala+ferox%22&amp;hl=en&amp;btnG=Google+Search GoogleImages],
[https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Tectiphiala+ferox Flickr],
[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Tectiphiala+ferox%22%20site:https://www.palmtalk.org/&amp;sa=Google+Search PalmTalk]
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[[Category:Tectiphiala|ferox]]
[[Category:Palm|Tectiphiala_ferox]]