Rhopalostylis sapida H.Wendl. & Drude

국표에 없다.

Rhopalostylis sapida, commonly known as nīkau, is a palm tree endemic to New Zealand, and the only palm native to mainland New Zealand.

Etymology

Nīkau is a word borrowed from the Māori language; cognates of this word in the closely related Eastern Polynesian languages of the tropical Pacific refer to the fronds or the midrib of the coconut palm (niu).

Distribution

The nīkau palm is the only palm species endemic to mainland New Zealand. Its natural range is coastal and lowland forest on the North Island, and on the South Island as far south as Ōkārito (43°20′S) in the west and Banks Peninsula (43°5′S) in the east. It also occurs on Chatham Island and Pitt Island/Rangiauria to the south-east of New Zealand, where it is the world's southernmost palm at 44° 18'S latitude.

Description

 

Nīkau grow up to 15 m tall, with a stout, green trunk which bears grey-green leaf scars. The trunk is topped by a smooth, bulging crownshaft up to 1 m long. The fronds are up to 3 m long, and the closely set, sometimes overlapping leaflets are up to 1m long. The inflorescence is multibranched and from 20 to 40 cm long. The tightly packed flowers are unisexual and coloured lilac to pink. Male flowers are borne in pairs, and have six stamens. The female flowers are solitary. The fruit is elliptic or oblong, and generally measures about 10 by 7 mm, and is red when ripe. Nīkau produce flowers between November and April, and fruit ripens from February to November, taking almost a year to fully ripen. These are a preferred food of the kererū, a native pigeon.

Fungus pathogen Pseudocercospora arecacearum can be found on the fronds of the palm.

Rhopalostylis sapida - Wikipedia

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