Calospatha
Encyclopedia
Calospatha is an extremely rare, monotypic
genus
of flowering plant
in the palm
family found in peninsular Malaysia where it is referred to as rotan demuk. It is not common in collections, nor has it been found in the wild for several years, leading some to conclude that the species may have become extinct. While not specialized for the task, these dioecious
palms are noted for their climbing habit. The genus name is a combination of two Greek
words meaning 'beautiful' and 'spathe'.
loss. The linear leaflets are pinnate
ly arranged and once-folded with toothed margins. The petioles and rachises feature recurved spines which hook onto vegetation and assist them in climbing. The inflorescences in both species consist of close, overlapping bracts from which male or female flowers emerge. The bracts are armed with spines and the inflorescence resembles those in Heliconia
species. The small, round fruit
, regarded as a delicacy by the Temuan
aboriginies, are scaly and usually contain three seeds
.
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus
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 peninsular Malaysia where it is referred to as rotan demuk. It is not common in collections, nor has it been found in the wild for several years, leading some to conclude that the species may have become extinct. While not specialized for the task, these dioecious
Dioecious
Dioecy is the property of a group of biological organisms that have males and females, but not members that have organs of both sexes at the same time. I.e., those whose individual members can usually produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism is thus distinctly female or male...
palms are noted for their climbing habit. The genus name is a combination of two 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 meaning 'beautiful' and 'spathe'.
Description
Calospatha plants are solitary-trunked and covered in leaf scars, which exude a yellow gum after leafLeaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
loss. The linear leaflets are pinnate
Pinnate
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...
ly arranged and once-folded with toothed margins. The petioles and rachises feature recurved spines which hook onto vegetation and assist them in climbing. The inflorescences in both species consist of close, overlapping bracts from which male or female flowers emerge. The bracts are armed with spines and the inflorescence resembles those in Heliconia
Heliconia
Heliconia, derived from the Greek word helikonios, is a genus of about 100 to 200 species of flowering plants native to the tropical Americas and the Pacific Ocean islands west to Indonesia. Many species of Heliconia are found in rainforests or tropical wet forests of these regions...
species. The small, round 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,...
, regarded as a delicacy by the Temuan
Orang Asli
Orang Asli , is a generic Malaysian term used for people indigenous to Peninsular Malaysia...
aboriginies, are scaly and usually contain three seeds
SEEDS
SEEDS is a voluntary organisation registered under the Societies Act of India....
.