Common name

thurston palm

Description

Stem: Solitary, upright stems to 8 m tall and up to 20 cm in diameter, often spreading slightly at the base, brown or dark gray in color, with vertical fissures and narrow rings of leaf scars. Leaves: Costapalmate, induplicate, 2-3 m across, undulate, forming a semi-circle, divided into stiff, single-fold segments usually no more than one-half the length of the leaf blade, with erect, bifid leaf segment tips. The leaf color is bright green with a thin waxy coating. The undersurface of the blade is marked by whitish scales in parallel lines, and the petiole and abaxial midribs are covered with gray or whitish wooly tomentum. The leaf sheath breaks down into a mass of tawny fibers. The petiole is smooth and unarmed. Flowers and fruit: Inflorescences to 2 m long with single panicles of yellow flowers, branched to two or three orders, extending well below the leaf canopy when in fruit. Fruits spherical, red, and 64 mm in diameter.

Diagnostic features

Field: Inflorescences to 2 m long with single panicles of yellow flowers, branched to two or three orders, extending well below the leaf canopy when in fruit. The undersurface of the blade is marked by whitish scales in parallel lines.

Distribution

Native to Fiji

Scientific name

Pritchardia thurstonii F.Muell. & Drude

Family

Arecaceae/Palmae

Synonyms

Eupritchardia thurstonii Kuntze

Styloma thurstonii O.F.Cook

Washingtonia thurstonii Kuntze