Laccosperma

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Cladus: Commelinids
Ordo: Arecales

Familia: Arecaceae
Subfamilia: Calamoideae
Tribus: Lepidocaryeae
Subtribus: Ancistrophyllinae
Genus: Laccosperma
Species: L. acutiflorum – L. cristalensis – L. korupense – L. laeve – L. opacum – L. robustum – L. secundiflorum
Source(s) of checklist:

Govaerts, R. et al. 2018. Laccosperma in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Dec. 13. Reference page.

Name

Laccosperma Drude, Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 35: 632 (1877)

Type species: Laccosperma opacum Drude, Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 35: 635 (1877)

Synonyms

Heterotypic
Ancistrophyllum (G.Mann & H.Wendl.) H.Wendl. in O.C.E.de Kerchove de Denterghem, Palmiers: 230 (1878), nom. illeg.
Neoancistrophyllum Rauschert, Taxon 31: 557 (1982)

References

Drude, C.G.O. (1877) Botanische Zeitung (Berlin) 35: 632. BHL

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2018. Laccosperma in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Dec. 13. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2018. Laccosperma. Published online. Accessed: Dec. 13 2018.
The Plant List 2013. Laccosperma in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Dec. 13.
Tropicos.org 2018. Laccosperma. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Dec. 13.

Vernacular names

Laccosperma is a clustering genus of flowering plant in the family palm found in tropical Africa. Poorly studied and rarely cultivated, they are closely related to the genus Eremospatha and with it form a tribe in the Calameae characterized by dyads of hermaphrodite flowers.[2] The genus name combines the Greek words for "reservoir" and "seed".[3]

Description

The trunks are mostly medium to large, clustering, high climbing, and extensively armed with sharp spines. The pinnate leaves are usually large, with spiny petioles, rachises and leaf sheaths. The barbed, linear leaflets are regularly arranged along the rachis and usually hang pendent. The end of the rachis is modified for climbing, featuring double, recurved spines which hook onto forest vegetation. In some species the ocrea, a thin flange where the leaf meets the stem, is enlarged and harbors ants.[3][4]

As hapaxanths, after a prolonged vegetative period, a brief flowering phase begins which results in the death of individual stems. They simultaneously produce multiple inflorescences at the top of the trunk, long, once or twice-branched spikes with bisexual flowers. The fruit is small and scaly and contains one seed.
Distribution and habitat

Growing in the tropics of the Congo basin and west Africa, the Laccosperma palms are found in Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, and Gabon. They grow in low rainforest mountains and in swamps where they may be used as a source of cane.[2]
References

Drude, Botanische Zeitung 35:632, 635. 1877. Type:L. opacum
Uhl, Natalie W. and Dransfield, John (1987) Genera Palmarum - A classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore. Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press. ISBN 0-935868-30-5 / ISBN 978-0-935868-30-2
Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. Portland: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-558-6 / ISBN 978-0-88192-558-6
Dransfield, John (2008-03-24). "Taxonomy, biology and ecology of rattan".