Volume 11 > Part 3 > Year 2013 > Page 393 > Arecaceae > Corypha

1. Corypha lecomtei Becc. ex Lecomtewfo-0000925821

Bull. Soc. Bot. France 63: 79. 1917. Plate CII: B & C. Fig. 8.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Solitary tree palm, leaf-bearing part of stem 5–10 m long at flowering. Stem often covered to the base by persistent leaf bases. Leaves 20–30 in crown; petiole 4–6 m long, with a black 1–1.5 cm wide marginal band and armed with regularly arranged, densely inserted 0.5–1 cm long black teeth; blade ca 3 m across, undulate and untidy-looking, costa arching, greyish-green on both sides, divided into 120–140 segments, the basal ones narrow and drooping, the remaining ones stiff. Composite flowering structure overall 5–7 m tall, triangular in outline, individual inflorescences more than 25, the lowest one up to 3 m long and held in a more or less horizontal position and curved downward, the subsequent ones gradually decreasing in size towards the stem apex. Fruit 5–7 cm diam., greenish-brown, rounded to slightly ellipsoid.

Thailand : NORTH-EASTERN: Phetchabun, Khon Kaen; SOUTH-EASTERN: Prachin Buri.

Distribution : Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam (type).

Ecology : In northeast Thailand occurring in seasonally dry vegetation, along river banks, monsoon forests and open areas, to 600 m alt.

Vernacular : Lan (ลาน), lan pa (ลานป่า), lan kabin (ลานกบินทร์).

Uses: A spectacular ornamental.

Conservation Status: Probably not threatened.

Notes: Can easily be distinguished from Corypha utan by the dark bands along the petiole margins and from C. umbraculifera by the absence of auricles at the leaf base.