Archontophoenix myolensis

Common Name:

The Myola Archontophoenix

Description:

Palm to 20m tall, trunk to 30cm diameter, usually expanded at the base. The leaves are about 4m long with a moderate lateral twist. Crownshaft is a blue/green. The pinnae become lax with age (somewhat resembling A. cunninghamiana in gross appearance), with silver/grey scales below, but lacking ramenta. The inflorescence usually holds the branches and rachiilae erect and rigid, though they may become pendulous in fruit. Flowers are white/cream. Staminate flowers have 14-24 stamens. Filament are not deflexed. Fruit bright red at maturity, 13-21 mm long, oblong, with the stigmatic remains eccentric. Fibres in the mesocarp are forked, thin or thick, not flattened.

Figure 1. A. myolensis in habitat, Myola Creek, north Queensland.

Distribution:

With a restricted distribution, confined to the gallery forests of Warrill Creek and southern banks of the Barron River below its junction with the creek, near Myola on the Atherton Tableland, north-east Queensland [16° 50'S], at 350-400 m altitude, on volcanic soils.

Notes:

This species resembles A. cunninghamiana in gross appearance of the leaves and the lax pinnae. Floristically it resembles A. alexandrae, though the stigmatic remains being eccentric on the fruit is unique within the genus.

Figure 2. A. myolensis

Figure 3. A. myolensis with immature infructescence.

Figure 4. A. myolensis along Myola Creek.

Figure 5. A. myolensis juvenile.

Figure 6. A. myolensis juvenile in Myola Creek.

Contributed by:

John Dowe (Text - from Palms & Cycads No. 39, Apr-Jun 1993)
Luke Nancarrow (Figure 1,2,3,4,5&6)

External Links:

Kew, PalmWeb, IUCN, JSTOR, Trebrown, ATRP

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