海南轴榈 hai nan zhou lü

Stems clustered, to 4 m tall, 2-3 cm in diam. Leaf sheaths ca. 40 cm, extended above petioles into short ocreas; petioles 50-160 cm, basal part with regularly spaced, recurved, brown spines to 0.5 cm; blades to 1.2 m wide, split into 12-17 segments, green on both surfaces; middle segment only slightly wider than others, split, 36-41 cm, 7-8 cm wide at apex, costa terminating in a glandlike structure abaxially at base of split. Plants dioecious. Inflorescences up to 1 m, erect among leaves; rachis ca. 50 cm, with 3-5 partial inflorescences, these branched to 2 orders; male and female rachillae 9-16 on each partial inflorescence, 8-17 cm; male flowers solitary or loosely grouped in 2-4, female flowers solitary. Fruits globose, 0.7-0.9 cm in diam., orange or red at maturity, with reflexed perianth.

● Lowland rain forests; below 600 m. Hainan.

Material of this species was treated as Licuala spinosa Wurmb in FRPS (13(1): 30. 1991).