Heterospathe elata

Common name

palma brava, sagisi palm

Description

Stems: Solitary, erect (12-13 m tall) with swollen base; young stems brownish with yellow to brown 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)
scar rings; older stems grayish with vertical fissures. Leaves: 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>)
, 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 a sharply twisted and arched rachisrachis:
an extension of the petiole through the blade of a pinnate leaf to which leaflets are attached
. The linearlinear:
term to describe leaves and leaflets that are narrow with nearly parallel margins; like a line
, green leaflets with tan ramentaramenta:
irregularly shaped, thin scales, sometimes found along the abaxial midrib of a leaflet
on the abaxialabaxial:
away from or the side of an organ facing away from the axis (<strong>ab </strong>as in <strong>ab</strong>andon); for example, the lower surface of a leaf blade or petiole
midrib are irregularly arranged and spread in a single plane, but because of the twisting rachisrachis:
an extension of the petiole through the blade of a pinnate leaf to which leaflets are attached
, leaflets are turned to have a vertical orientation from about the midpoint to the 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)
tip. The petiole is not armed and no 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 formed from 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)
sheaths, but the base of the 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)
has fibrous margins. New leaves are reddish bronze when they emerge. Flowers and fruit: Inflorescences are branched to four orders, 1-1.5 m long. Staminatestaminate:
a flower bearing stamens but no pistils; a “male” flower
and pistillatepistillate:
a flower bearing a pistil but no stamens; a “female” flower
flowers are produced on the same inflorescences and are white in color. Fruits are spherical, 1-1.25 cm long, and turn from white to red or red-orange when ripe.

Diagnostic features

Solitary, erect stem with a swollen base and new leaves emerging reddish-bronze

Distribution

Native to Philippines

Additional comments

This species is sometimes cultivated as an indoor palm.

Scientific name

Heterospathe elata Scheff.

Family

Arecaceae/Palmae

Synonyms

Metroxylon elatum Hort. ex Scheff.