Areca vestiaria
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Introduction:
Areca vestiaria, a clustering, shade-loving ornamental palm is native to North Sulawesi, the northernmost province of Sulawesi Island (formerly known as Celebes). This palm also grows in the neighbouring Maluku Province especially in the northern islands` In these regions, the palm is known as 'pinang merah', or the red pinang. For the Indonesians, 'pinang merah' is the common name for all palms resembling Areca or Pinanga and whose crown-shaft, petiole or fruits appear red, pink orange or golden yellow. Even Cyrtostachys lakka, the sealing-wax palm, is 'pinang merah' for them. By whatever name Areca vestiaria was known until recently, this wild palm is one of the most beautiful ornamental pinnate palms, comparable only to the sealing-wax palm in beauty. Dr John Dransfield, an Editor of Principes, (the Journal of International Palm Society), established that Areca langloisiana, described by late Dr Harold E. Moore Jr. (Founding-Editor of Principes), and Areca vestiaria are synonyms. This red pinanga was known earlier by various names such as Areca langloisiana, A. leptopeltate,A. heinrici, A. paniculata, Ptychosperma paniculatum, P. vestiarius, Mischophloeus paniculatus, Pinanga sylvestris and Seaforthia vestiaria. The wide morphological variation noticed in the palm which ranges from the profusely stilt-rooted condition to having no aerial root at all, densely clustering to single-stemmed habit, colour of leaf-sheath ranging from red, bright orange, light orange and brown, and the variation in the colour of fruits which changes as the fruit matures, all contributed to the confusion of its name. Further, the bright orange colour of crownshaft, spathe and mature fruits become less attractive at lower altitudes. Thus, the palm appeared differently for palmists who saw them in small numbers at only a single location. We had the opportunity to admire Areca vestiara in its indigenous habitat in the many volcanic mountains of North Sulawesi, especially in Gunung Soputan and around Lake Tondano. Also we could examine clumps at lower elevations where it looked less colourful. There is confusion even in the local name of the species. Although 'pinang merah' (red pinang) is a more common name, it is also known as 'pinang yaki' (monkey pinang). Perhaps monkeys, especially the Sulawesi crested macaque, enjoys the ripe fruits of pinang merah because of its sweet mesocarp and this could have earned its popular name.
Ripe fruits, spathes and crownshaft of
Areca vestiaria growing at altitudes between 600 and
1200m are very colourful. At lower elevations, as one can see
in front of homes along the mountain slopes and valleys, as
well as the clumps maintained at the Bogor Botanic Garden,
the colour is less spectacular. In the colour picture that
appears on page 159 of the book Palms in Australia by David
Jones, the leaf sheath of 'pinang merah' appears almost green.
So also the stilt roots do not appear colourful. The stem is
slender, tall and smooth displaying distinctive rings of
leaf-scars. Depending on the richness of the locality where
they grow, the number of shoots per clump varies from one to
twenty or even more. Very young shoots are less impressive.
The crownshaft/leafsheath is deep orange and attracts the
attention of people standing even at a far distance. Because
of this, locating clumps of 'pinang merah' in valleys and
slopes of volcanic hills is very easy even though proper
roads or trails to reach them in such hills are extremely
inadequate. As the mature leaf sheds and its auxiliary
inflorescence becomes visible, the large spathe which
envelopes the spadix is deep in its reddish orange hue. But
as the spathe opens, the tender peduncle, spikes and flowers
all appear cream-coloured. However, after fertilization, the
female flowers, including their perianth cap, first turn light
green and as they grow, turn dirty brown. As the fruits
mature and ripen, their colour changes to light brown, light
orange, deep orange and crimson red. Simultaneously, the
colour of the peduncle and spikes also changes in unison with
that of the fruits. A ripe infructescence bearing 25-300
fruits is extremely pretty, much more attractive than the
fruit bunches of Cyrtostachys lakka. However, in
C. lakka, the crownshaft including the rachis up to
the tip of the pinnate leaf is deeply crimson, and more
impressive than those of Areca vestiaria.
Stilt-Roots:
Several species
of palms that inhabit swampy environments produce roots from
the aerial portions of stem. In most cases, the roots grown
slantingly on all sides of the stem and offer anchorage to
the stem which is usually very thin to begin with. Without
these stilt-roots, the thicker and heavier subsequent stem
and the crown would cause the plant to topple down.
Iriartea sp. of South America and the spectacular
Eugeissona minor are good examples for palms of swampy
habitats bearing impressive stilt-roots, however
Areca vestiaria
is not a swamp-loving palm. On the contrary, it lives on
well-drained volcanic soils. While the sloppy nature of the
soil calls for extra support for the palm stem on the lower
side, there is another reason why
A. vestiaria develops stilt-roots.
The fruits are fairly small and they
are either shed under the mother palms or more often they are
carried to adjoining localities by fruit-eating animals. The
seeds discarded by the animals after consuming the sweet pulp,
get entangled within the thick forest vegetation and debris
on the soil surface. The seeds start germinating immediately
as there is no dormancy period. The seedlings are required to
grow very fast to get out of the layer of fallen leaves and
twigs. Thus the plant elongates vertically faster rather than
developing a stout bole. As it emerges above the thick layer
of organic matter, the subsequent stem steadily increases in
girth. As if to support the thin stem, many aerial roots are
produced from the tender stem which serve as props. The
freshly-formed stem continues to increase in girth while the
lower portion of stem remains more or less at the original
thickness. Thus, there is vital need for several supporting
stilt-roots which are formed subsequently. In this respect,
A. vestiaria
resembles another ornamental palm,
Pigafetta filaris,
also native to Sulawesi Island. The picture of
A. vestiara (A. langloisiana) by E.P. Beckwith
appearing on page 95 (volume 6 of Principes) is most
impressive on account of its multitude of stilt-roots that
virtually cover the stem up to over 2m from ground level.
Young aerial roots and the tip of older ones are strikingly
purplish-red. This is similar to the colour of young roots of
Metroxylon sagu.
Flowers:
The flower bunches of 'pinang merah' always remain below the leafy crown (intrafoliar), as they emerge only when the subtending leaf sheds. The single, large, boat-shaped and orange-coloured spathe splits open to let out the cream-coloured spadix bearing a short peduncle and 10-25 simply-branched spikes Areca vestiaria is monoecious, since the male and female flowers are produced in the same spadix. Female flowers are larger than the males, but smaller in number. Unlike in the common Areca catechu where the female flowers, 1-3, are placed at the base of each spike, in 'pinang merah' the female flowers are distributed practically throughout the length of the spike, intermingled with male flowers Blooming phase of male flowers commences from the time they emerge from the spathe, and the male flowers continue to bloom and shed for about 15 days, only after which, the female flowers attain receptivity. This alternation of male and female blooming phases favours cross pollination to take place. Male flowers have 3 extremely small imbricating sepals and 3 larger valvate petals. There are 6 functional stamens and 3 pistillodes at the centre. Female flowers have 3 imbricating sepals and 3 petals almost of the same size. The perianths fully cover the ovary until receptive stage. There is a ring of staminodes present between the whorl of petals and the ovary which represents the sterile stamens. The ovary consists of three united carpels and the style is very short or absent, but the trifid stigma is conspicuous. The fruit develops into a one seeded berry whose epicarp and perianth are bright red which enhances the value of this wild palm as an ornamental.
Culture:
Although fairly slow growing, Areca vestiaria
is easy to grow and the 11 year old specimen
in Figure 2 has survived temperature as low as 5°C
and has been seeding for the last five years.
Usually suckering, but also solitary, and has
small stilt roots. The species prefers damp soil
of pH 6.5 to 6.8, warmth, high humidity and
light shade The species is native to Borneo
and is monoecious (i.e. male and female
flowers are separate on the same plant.)
This ornamental palm can be propagated either through
fruits or suckers. The viability of fruit is short.
Contributed by:
T. A Davis, Elsie T. Tenda, Tine Rompas and Dina B. Taula.
JBS Haldane Research Centre, Nagercoil 4,
Tamilnadu, India and the Coconut Research Institute, Manado,
Indonesia (Text - from Palms & Cycads No. 18 Jan-Mar 1988).
Rolf Kyburz (Figure 1)
Maria Boggs (Figure 2)
Robert Wilson (Figure 3)
External Links:
Google, GoogleImages, Flickr, PalmTalk