Ptychosperma elegans

Common name

alexander palm, solitaire palm

Description

Stems: Solitary, slender, gray stems to 10 m tall and up to 12 cm in diameter, bulging at the base, with ridged rings of leafleaf:
in palms -- the leaf blade (which is usually divided into leaflets or leaf segments), the petiole (or leaf stalk) and the sheath (which forms the attachment of the leaf to the stem)
scars. Leaves: Pinnate, reduplicatereduplicate:
Most palm leaflets or leaf segments are obviously folded. If the folds create an upside-down V-shape, with the margins lower than the midrib (so that rain might "run off the roof"), the folding is reduplicate.
, to 3 m long, with an arching rachisrachis:
an extension of the petiole through the blade of a pinnate leaf to which leaflets are attached
holding regularly arranged leaflets at a slightly ascending, V-shaped angle, in a single plane. The crown shaftcrown shaft:
a cylinder of clasping leaf sheaths toward the apex of the stem, found in some pinnate-leaved palms (e.g., <em>Wodyetia bifurcata</em>)
is about 60 cm long, somewhat swollen at the base, and light green with a waxy white coating. Leaflets are green above and grayish green below, widest toward the middle, pleated by deep secondary veins, with thick marginal ribs and prominent midribs with brown or tan twisted ramentaramenta:
irregularly shaped, thin scales, sometimes found along the abaxial midrib of a leaflet
on the underside. Leaflet tips are truncated and jagged (praemorse). Flowers and fruits: Inflorescenceinflorescence:
the reproductive structure of a flowering plant, including palms, consisting of flowers and associated bracts
is pendulous, to 1 m long and branched to two or three orders. White male and female flowers are borne on the same inflorescenceinflorescence:
the reproductive structure of a flowering plant, including palms, consisting of flowers and associated bracts
. The spherical, red fruits are 1.5-2 cm long and have remnants of the stigma at the apex.

Diagnostic features

Slender, solitary, gray stemed palms with pinnatepinnate:
like a feather; palms with pinnate leaves usually have compound leaflets attached to a rachis, although a pinnate leaf may be entire with pinnate veins (e.g., <em>Chamaedorea metallica</em>)
leaves, a short crown shaftcrown shaft:
a cylinder of clasping leaf sheaths toward the apex of the stem, found in some pinnate-leaved palms (e.g., <em>Wodyetia bifurcata</em>)
with a waxy white coating, and pleated, praemorsepraemorse:
with a jagged edge or like a fish tail
leaflets that are are green above and grayish green below.

May be confused with

Ptychosperma macarthurii, but it is a smaller statured, clustering palm with drooping rather than ascending leaflets.

Distribution

Native to Australia

Additional comments

This species is commonly cultivated and commonly hybridizes. It is found in tropical landscapes, including in Hawaii

The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council lists this species as a Category II invasive: exotic plants that show signs of increasing in abundance, but that have not yet altered native plant communities. www.fleppc.org

Scientific name

Ptychosperma elegans (R.Br.) Blume

Family

Arecaceae/Palmae

Synonyms

Archontophoenix elegans (R. Brown) H. Wendland & Drude ex Rock

Archontophoenix jardinei F. M. Bailey

Ptychosperma capitis-yorkii H. Wendland & Drude

Ptychosperma seaforthia Miquel

Saguaster elegans Kuntze

Seaforthia elegans R. Br.