Rank Species | Genus Phoenix Higher classification Date palms | |
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Similar Palm trees, Date palms, Phoenix pusilla, Phoenix acaulis, Phoenix rupicola | ||
Phoenix loureiroi var pedunculata
Phoenix loureiroi (common name mountain date palm) is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, indigenous to southern Asia, from the southern islands of the Philippines, India, southern Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Pakistan, and China. It occurs in deciduous and evergreen forests and in clear terrain from sea level to 1,500 m altitude.
Contents
Phoenix loureiroi is named after João de Loureiro; it was originally written by Kunth as "loureirii", but this is an error to be corrected to loureiroi under the provisions of the ICBN.
Description
Phoenix loureiroi contains solitary and clustering plants with trunks from 1–4 m high and 25 cm in width, usually covered in old leaf bases. The leaves vary to some degree but usually reach 2 m in length with leaflets wide at the base and sharply pointed apices. The leaflets emerge from the rachis at varying angles creating a stiff, plumose leaf.
The fruit is a single-seeded drupe, bluish-black when ripe, produced on erect, yellow inflorescences, usually hidden within the leaf crown. The species is noted for its variability in different habitats.
Varieties
There are two varieties, based on the presence or absence of sclerotic, tannin-filled cells along the midribs and margins of leaflets:
