Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Carpentaria acuminata (H.L.Wendl. & Drude) Becc.


Palm, pandan or cycad
Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Male flowers [not vouchered]. © J.L. Dowe
Female flowers [not vouchered]. © J.L. Dowe
Fruit, whole, in longitudinal section and with epicarp removed to reveal mesocarp fibres [not vouchered]. © J.L. Dowe
Mature fruit [not vouchered]. © J.L. Dowe
In lowland monsoonal forest [not vouchered]. © J.L. Dowe
Family

Beccari, O. (1885) Annales de Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg 2: 128.

Common name

Carpentaria Palm

Stem

Single-stemmed palm 9-30 m tall with a DBH of 15-20 cm, grey to light tan with widely spaced rings.

Leaves

Leaves 10-12 per plant. Leaves pinnate, 2-4 m long, arching; pinnae many, narrow, arching, 40-60 x 1.2-1.5 cm long, deep green. Crownshaft smooth, green.

Flowers

Inflorescence arise from the upper leaf bases and then progressively down the trunk, 1-2 m long with flower clusters 90-120 cm long, pendant, much branched, beneath the crown shaft bearing white male and female flowers. Flowers ca. 10 mm across. Sepals 3, petals 3 and the flowers in groups of 3 with 1 female between 2 male flowers. Male flowers with 30-40 stamens.

Fruit

Fruit globular and up to 20 mm diameter, scarlet when ripe with up to 3 seeds within. Seeds smooth.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in the top end of the NT. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 200 m. Grows in canopy or subcanopy of rainforest, Allosyncarpia forest, vine forest and swamp forest on sandy to heavy clay lom soils.

Natural History & Notes

Flesh of fruit highly caustic (Cronin 1989).

Synonyms
Kentia acuminata H.Wendl. & Drude, Linnaea 39: 207(1875), Type: Escape Cliffs, NE of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
RFK Code
7002
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