Metroxylon sagu Rottb.
국표에 없다.
Metroxylon sagu, the true sago palm, is a species of palm in the genus Metroxylon, native to tropical southeastern Asia. The tree is a major source of sago starch.
Description
True sago palm is a suckering (multiple-stemmed) palm, each stem only flowering once (hapaxanthic) with a large upright terminal inflorescence. A stem grows 7–25 metres (23–82 feet) tall before it ends in an inflorescence.
Before flowering, a stem bears about 20 pinnate leaves up to 10 m (33 ft) long. Each leaf has about 150–180 leaflets up to 175 centimetres (5+1⁄2 ft) long. The inflorescence, 3–7.5 m (10–24+1⁄2 ft) tall and wide, consists of the continuation of the stem and 15–30 upwardly-curving (first-order) branches spirally arranged on it. Each first-order branch has 15–25 rigid, distichously arranged second-order branches; each second-order branch has 10–12 rigid, distichously arranged third-order branches. Flower pairs are spirally arranged on the third-order branches, each pair consisting of one male and one hermaphrodite flower. The fruit is drupe-like, about 5 cm (2 in) in diameter, covered in scales which turn from bright green to straw-coloured upon ripening.
The sago palm reproduces by fruiting. Each stem (trunk) in a sago palm clump flowers and fruits at the end of its life, but the sago palm as an individual organism lives on through its suckers (shoots that are continuously branching off a stem at or below ground level).
Distribution and habitat
Metroxylon sagu is native to the Maluku Islands and New Guinea. It has been naturalised in other parts of tropical Asia, including Sumatra, Borneo and Thailand. Its habitat is in lowland swamp forests.
