Laccosperma
Encyclopedia
Laccosperma is a clustering genus
of flowering plant
in the palm
family found in tropical Africa. Poorly studied and rarely cultivated, they are closely related to the Eremospatha
genus and with it form a tribe in the Calameae characterized by dyads of hermaphrodite
flowers. The genus name combines the Greek
words for "reservoir" and "seed".
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.
As hapaxanth
s, after a prolonged vegetative period, a brief flowering phase begins which results in the death of individual stems. They simultaneously produce multiple inflorescence
s at the top of the trunk, long, once or twice-branched spikes with bisexual flower
s. The fruit
is small and scaly and contains one seed
.
of the Congo basin
and west Africa, the Laccosperma palms are found in Cameroon
, Ghana
, Nigeria
, and Gabon
. They grow in low rain forest mountains and in swamps where they may be used as a source of cane.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
in the palm
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
family found in tropical Africa. Poorly studied and rarely cultivated, they are closely related to the Eremospatha
Eremospatha
Eremospatha is a climbing genus of flowering plant in the palm family found in tropical Africa. These rattans are uncommon in cultivation and poorly understood by taxonomists; some 12 species have been described, of which three are commonly recognized. Closely related to Laccosperma, they are...
genus and with it form a tribe in the Calameae characterized by dyads of hermaphrodite
Hermaphrodite
In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...
flowers. The genus name combines the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
words for "reservoir" and "seed".
Description
The trunks are mostly medium to large, clustering, high climbing, and extensively armed with sharp spines. The pinnatePinnate
Pinnate is a term used to describe feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis in plant or animal structures, and comes from the Latin word pinna meaning "feather", "wing", or "fin". A similar term is pectinate, which refers to a comb-like arrangement of parts...
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.
As hapaxanth
Hapaxanth
A hapaxanth is a term used for a plant species whose individuals flowers only once in their lifetime and die subsequently. Other terms with the same meaning are semelparous and monocarpic....
s, after a prolonged vegetative period, a brief flowering phase begins which results in the death of individual stems. They simultaneously produce multiple inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
s at the top of the trunk, long, once or twice-branched spikes with bisexual flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is small and scaly and contains one seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
.
Distribution and habitat
Growing in the tropicsTropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
of the Congo basin
Congo Basin
The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin that is the drainage of the Congo River of west equatorial Africa. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands...
and west Africa, the Laccosperma palms are found in Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, and Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
. They grow in low rain forest mountains and in swamps where they may be used as a source of cane.