\974'J DRANSFIELD:NOTES ON 87 \ Notes on Caryota no Becc.and Other Malesian CaryotaSpecles

Jonu DuNsrrnr,n

Herbaium Bogoriense, Bogor, Indonesia. ' *"

In December L97I I distributed a his mind concerning the taxonomic sta- large quantity of seed oI Caryota no ttl;lsoI Caryota no. In this work (Bec- Becc. to The Palm Society Seed Bank cari, 1877) he recognizes two species under the collector's number Dransfield' ol Caryota in the Malesian region and 2153. The following preliminary taxo- numerous varieties, viz: nomic note may be of interestto growers Caryota rumphiana var. moluccana who received samples of the seed. Becc. from the Moluccas no is, I believe, when well Caryota C. rurnphianavar. pdpua,noBecc. from grown the most massive species of the the Key Islands and New Guinea genus. It was first described in 1B7I C. rumphiana var. a,ustra,liensisBecc. in Nuoao Giornale Botanico by Beccari = C. albertii F.v.M. from the Cape (Beccari, lB71), the descrip- Italiano York Peninsula of Australia being based on Beccari's own col- tion C. rumphi,ana var. borneezsis Becc. -- P.B. 3643-a collection made lection, C. no Beoc.from Borneo (sic), in the First Division near Singhi C. rumphiana var. jaaanica Becc.: of Sarawak, Borneo. The curious spe- C. maxima Bl. from Java epithet originates from Beccari's cific and C. rumphiana var. ind,icaBecc. : C. of the local name) cayu no transcription obtusa Griff from the Malay Penin- (kayu no); Beccari also mentions the sula local Dayak r,ame onus as applied to the and Caryota grillithii Becc. from Bor- fibre of the tree-a local name which neo, Malaya, and Java, is used as unus to mean the whole tree and.C. grillithii var. selebica Becc. {rom in South Kalimantan, Indonesian Bor- the Celebes. neo. It is possiblethat Beccari was mis- taken in the local name no. as enau (wirh Caryota rumphiana Mart. is thought "e" the hardly pronounced) is one o{ to refer to the large solitary Caryota oI the most widespread Malay names {or the Moluccas. Arenga pinnato. Beccari distinguished Unfortunately, of all palms, Caryota Caryota no firom other species of the is one of the most difficult to represent genus by its much greater size, by di{- adequately on an herbarium sheet, and, ferences in the shape of the leaflets, and as is well known, types of this genus by the presenceo{ two seedsin the fruit. made in the last century without field This combination of characters was felt notes, are extremely fragmentary, diffi- by Beccari in 1871 to be sufficient basis cult to interpret, and virtually useless for the separation oI kayu no as a dis- for trying to match up with more mod- tinct species. However in 1871 in the ern collections. A monograph of Cary- first part of Volume One of Beccari's ota will involve, I imagine, tedious work monumental Malesia, he had changed matching up fragments, possibly with PRINCIPES lVol. 18 the aid of anatomical characte.rsof the I have not seenthe type specimensof leaflets. In a way, there{ore, it is not more than three or four of the specific surprising that Beccari found that the epithets, so the following notes based easiestsolution to the taxonomic prob- on field observations and not on her- lem within Malesian Caryota was to rec- barium material, must be regarded as ognize two species only: Caryota grif- very preliminary. lithii was applied to small clustering Starting with the island of Java, I , with two varieties (this is ap- recognize herg ,two taxa within the parently no different {rom C. mitis genus: Lour.) and Caryota rumphiana applied , Taxon I) is a lowland elustering, small to larger solitary species. It is most specieswith spreading leaflets and small unfortunate that Beccari did not have one-seededfruit; this is the taxon widely material from the Philippines at hand known as C. mitis Lour.; this samepalm for consideration when he wrote his I have seenwith relatively little variation note. In those days of slow travel, Bec- other than in size throughout the low- cari would not have been able to make lands of Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, comparisons between wild populations, and the Minahasa Peninsula of the and collectionsin botanic gardenswould North Celebes. In South Borneo there have been even more incomplete than is a palm, very similar in all respects, now; added to this, all Caryota species except that the leaflets are somewhat in the herbarium look very much the broader, thicker and somewhatconcave. same. I feel, there{ore, that by the time I do not know whether this slight dif- Beccari came to write his note in Male- {erence is constant in cultivation. but. sia, the striking impression o{ the giant slight though the difference in the leaf- Bornean speciesmay have dimmed suf- lets is. it is sufficient to make the whole ficiently for resemblancesto have won look a bit different from the clus- over differences, and |or Caryota no to Iering Caryota of Java, Sumatra, the be reduced to C. rumphiana var. Malay Peninsula, and North Celebes. borneensis, The situation within the genusCaryota Taxon 2) is a giant solitary Caryota in the Malesian region today has not with drooping primary pinnae, drooping much changed since Beccari's day. Sev- leaf apex, and pendulousleaflets, bright eral species from the Philippines were pinky-red fruit containing one seed only unknown to Beccari (C. cumingii Lodd., (very very rarely does one find two C. majestica Lind., C. nanaLind., and C. seeds). This palm is no longer common speciosa Lind.), and Beccari later de- in Java and is found normally above scribed C. merrillii from the Philippines 1,000 m. in the mountains. This palm (Beccari, IB94), Burret described C. corresponds,I think, with Blume's Cary- macrantha from Sumatrao and Ridley ota maxilna and Beccari's Caryota rum- decidedthat Beccari'slater combination phiana var. jauanica. In the Flora ol C. obtusa Griff. var. aequatorialis Becc. Iaua (Backer and Bakhuizen van den deservedspecific rank as Caryota aequa- Brink) it is re{erred ro as Caryota.rum- torialis (Becc.) Ridl. There are also phiana Mart. I have found a palm iden- several epithets first coined by Blume tical to the Javanesetaxon 2) through- which are not considered by Beccari. out the main range (Bukit Barisan) o{ There is hence a very real mess in the Sumatra from Lampung in the south to nomenclatureand oI Caryota Aceh in the north. I have been near the with a plethora of names. type locality o{ Burret's C. m,acrantha r974) DRANSFIELD:NOTES ON CARYOTA B9 and I can see only what I regard as the dophytae aphlebiae, quite di{ferent from one widespreadtaxon there. Similarly, the other pinnae, and not observed by I can seeno di{ference at all betweenthe me in any other Caryotd taxon; the fruit Sumatran/Javanesetaxon and the giant is pinky-red, and about 95 percent of mountain Caryota in the Malay Penin- the time contains two small hemispheri- sula. I there{ore do not as yet believe cal seeds. This palm is widespread and in the existence of the taxon Caryota common from about 20 m. to 1,200 m' rumphiana var. ind,icaBecc. = C. obtusa altitude, a very wide ecological range. Gri{f. = C. obtusa var. aequatorialis (Incidentally in November 1973, I dis- Becc.= C. aequatorialis (Becc.) Ridl. tributed seed o{ this taxon to the Seed as distinct from C. rnaximaBl. = C. rum- Bank under the collector's number phiana var. jauanica Becc.= C. rum- Dranslield 3732, Caryolo sp.). I have phiana Mart. sensuBacker and Bakhui- not been able to match this palm with zen oI Java and of Sumatra (sensu any published epithet. Drans{ield). The giant Caryota ftom Photographs of a lowland, solitary, the mountains of South Thailand may moderate-sized Caryota from Ceram in well turn out to be this samewidespread the Moluccas taken bv Dr. Charles taxon 2). Lamoureux of the University of Hawaii Apart from thesetwo taxa mentioned look somewhat similar to taxon 4) but above as found in Java, I know of no have stiff primary pinnae and main other wild speciesol Caryota in Sumatra rhachides. I have no doubt that this is and the Malay Peninsula. In Borneo as Beccari's Caryota rumphiana var. moluc' far as I know, taxon 2) is missing' cana and hence the lrrte Caryota rum- There is however another Plant. phiana Mart. Seedlings of this species brought back from Ceram have rounded Taxon 3), the biggest CarYota of all, seeds still attached; though these may solitary, with a bulging trunk like that represent freak one-seeded fruits of a oI Roystonearegia,vast leaveswith stiff two-seeded palm, I think it more likely main rhachis, stiff primary pinnae and that this is a one-seeded palm. pendulous leaflets, huge inflorescences I know nothing of Caryota in New ultimately bearing large dark purple, Guinea and Australia and would very almost black {ruit, about 98 percent o{ much like to receive information on rvhich contain two hemisphericalseeds. habit, leaf orientation and flowers and This plant is a lowland plant and I have fruit. on New Guinea and Australian not seenit above 400 m. altitude. This populations. Beccari does mention that correspondsI believe with Caryota no the fruit oI C. rumphiana var. papu&n(t borneensis Becc.: C, rum'plt'iana var. is one-seeded. Becc. When t}e palms of the Bogor Botanic Peninsula of North In the Minahassa Gardens are examined however, the situ- Celebesis Taxon 4), a solitary, medium' ation is much more con{used; in many sized plant rarely exceeding15 m. with cases records have been lost or are in- a uniform trunk 15-20 cm. in diameter, and the Caryota spp. show the leaves with main rhachis and pri' complete, mary, slightly drooping, pendulousleaf- con{usingly intermediate {orms. It is lets, and the first two or three primary possible that some of these may be of pinnae on each side highly reduced and hybrid origin, or may originate from spidery, bearing slender,highly serrated outside the Malesian region. leaflets,the whole reminiscent of Pteri- Mv field observations in Java, Malaya, PRINCIPES lVol. IB

"rS*.&q f

parency by H. E. Moore, Jr. r9741 DRANSFIELD: NOTES ON CARYOTA ffi.,flrr1,.".'

2. Caryota no in the Kebun Raya, Bogor, Indonesia, planted in 1957. 92 PRINCIPES tVol. lB

significance in the taxonomy of this genus. Becauseof this, I shall continue to use for the giant Bornean Caryota the wonderful name Caryota no rather than C. rumphiana var. borneen*is, until any monographic treatment of the genus should make it pdvisable to change the name. Indeed the differences between Laxon2) and taxon 3), for instance,are as great, if not greater, than between taxon 1) and taxon 2), and are greater than the differences between species in many other palm genera. After this clarification or further con- fusion of Caryota somenotes on Caryota no as a plant may be of interest. I first saw wild Caryota no in May I97l near Samarinda in East Kaliman- 1sn-Lrsrs it was growing in an old Iad,ang (unit of shifting cultivation), was still young and not yet flowering, and despitegrowing in a scorchedopen habitat, was still a grand plant with its swollen trunk and vast leaves. In Octo- ber 1971, I returned to Borneo, this time to South Kalimantan, and was {or- tunate enough to see a very well grown individual oI Caryota no growing in

3. InflorescencesoI Caryota no at Bogor. rich riverside alluvium at the edge of a rubber plantation. The palm presented a wide range of stagesof flowering and Sumatra, Borneo and the North Celebes fruiting and particularly welcome were do suggest to me that the four taxa I large quantities of ripe fruit. The trunk have enumerated above are really very was to 20 m. tall, ventricose,up to 70 distinct, and also that the differences cm. in diameter at the widest point. The are sufficient for the taxa to be given leaves measured about 5 m. long, with equivalenttaxonomic categories;that is, a spread o{ 4 m. The inflorescences going if we are to call the clustering hung down in great two-meter-long taxon 1) C. mitis, then the other three tresses and the fruits seemed to ripen taxa must receive specific rank rather purplish-black without passing through than receiving subspecific rank within an intermediate pink C. rumphiana. Owing to the extraordi- stage. Beneath the nary difficulty of representing Caryota tree were great piles of fruit, in various in the herbarium and the terrible scraps stagesof fermentation and rotting; in- we have, I am unimpressed by the simi- sect activity was quite considerable larity of the specimensin the Herbarium. within the pile of fruit, and mixed in with I feel field characters are of far more the rotting fruit were thousands of seed- r9741 DRANSFIELD:NOTES ON CARYOTA 93

Iings almost forming a lawn under the In Bogor in the Kebun RaYa are two palm. These seedlings probably origi- well grown trees of Caryoto no planted nated from the first (most distal) in- in 1957; these two trees originate from {ructescencewhich, when we visited the seedssown in the Gardens, collected by palm, was shrivelled and dead. To cut A. J. G. H. Kostermansunder the name down this magnificent tree seemedsacri- Pinanga sp. from Samarinda, East Kali' legious, yet to climb it was impossible. mantan. In February 1973 one of the Collections were finally made after two trees produced its..first inflorescence. weeks thought while we were elsewhere Sixteen ye,arsfrom seedto maturity, and in the forest, by making a bridge-ladder maturity at a great size, suggestsa very o{ bamboo which our tree-climber used fast rate o{ growth. Because o{ its low- to crossfrom the top of a nearby rubber land habit Caryota no should prove to tree which he had climbed, into the be an excellent avenue tree for cities in crown of rhe Caryota. As we finished the lowland tropics; its quick growth making the collections, a pied hornbill and relatively short life cycle of about (Anthrococerus coronntus conuexus) 20 years from seedto death after flower' flew clumsily on to the ripe infruc- ing should not deter its use-a{ter all, ate about twenty tescence and daintily roads in cities nowadays rarely last l0 ripe fruit by swallowing them whole- years without some alteration or widen- each mouthful being accompanied by a ing. toss of the head-and then flew off. As in all Caryotoideae the mesocarp con- Ltrrn-ltunn Crrro irritant oxalate crystals. tains many Blcrrn, C. A., ern R. C. BernuzEN vAN DEN How does the hornbill survive the crys- Bnrtr, Jn. 1968. ' Flora of tals, where even to the human hand the Java 3: 16t199. mesocarp is wildly irritating? This is Bncc.lnl O. 1B?1. Note sopra alcune palme an unanswered problem. It is also in- Bornensi. Nuovo Giornale Botanico Itali- teresting to note that the rlwsdng and the ano 3: 11-30. d,ed,es(Parad'oxurus hermaphrod,itus and. 1877. Palme della Nuova Guinea. Viaerra malaccensis, two types of civet Malesia 1: 8-96. -- AND D. Hoorun. f894. Pa]mae. cat) in Java are fond of the fruit of J. The Flora of British India 6: 402-443. Caryota taxon 1) and taxon 2)-their Bunnnt, M. 1940. Indomalayische Palmen. dung is often full o{ the seedsthe germi- Notizblatt des botanischen Gartens und nation of which is not impaired and is Museums zu Berlin-Dahlem 15: 164-210. possibly enhanced by passage through Rrnr-nv, H. N. 1925. Palmaceae. The Flora the civet cats' guts. of the Malay Peninsula 5: I-72.