Product Code Database
Raphia hookeri is a palm species in the family Arecaceae or Palmae. It is found in Western and Central Africa, where it is locally used to make palm wine. It is best noted for its very long leaflets which in the subspecies R. h. gigantea, of Ghana and Ivory Coast, can be 11 ft 6 in (3.5 meters) in length, while only two inches (five centimeters) wide. These are the longest leaflets known from any plant.
Leaves emerge spirally, with Leaf sheath reaching 3–4 meters in length and splitting opposite the petiole. The unarmed petiole extends another 3–4 meters, leading to leaflets 1–1.5 meters long and 4–5 centimeters wide, with tapering tips bearing small spines. The inflorescence is axillary and drooping, growing up to 2.5 meters or longer, with tightly packed branches bearing rows of rigid, curved floral structures.
The palm is Monoecy, producing separate male and female Flower within the same inflorescence. Male flowers cluster towards the branch tips, measuring 1.5–2.5 centimeters long, with numerous Stamen and curved corolla segments. Female flowers, found at the base, are larger and contain a three-celled ovary with a recurved stigma. The fruit is a one-Seed berry, ranging from inversely conical to elliptical, measuring 6–12 centimeters in length and 4–5 centimeters in width. Its surface is covered in vertical rows of overlapping, reddish-brown or pale yellowish-brown scales with darker tips.
Seeds are oblong, approximately 6–7.5 centimeters long and 3–3.5 centimeters wide, featuring irregular grooves and narrowly ruminate endosperm. Germination is hypogeal, with a taproot and adventitious roots. The seedling’s early leaves are highly reduced and irregularly lobed, followed by larger fronds reaching up to a meter in length, bearing about a dozen leaflets on either side of the rachis.
|
|
