Nipa palm
| Nipa palm | ||||||||||||
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Nipa palm ( Nypa fruticans ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the subfamily | ||||||||||||
| Nypoideae | ||||||||||||
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| Nypa | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Nypa fruticans | ||||||||||||
| Wurmb |
The nipa palm ( Nypa fruticans ) is a species of palm that is native to Southeast Asia .
features
Nipa palms are large, creeping, unreinforced palms that bloom several times and are single-sexed ( monoecious ). The trunk is compact, prostrate or underground. The branching is dichotomous . On the upper side of the trunk there are curved leaf scars , on the underside there are sprout roots .
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 34.
leaves
Nipa palms have few, very large leaves . These are erect and reduplicate pinnate. The leaf sheath tears open very early and is bare. The petiole is stocky, broad at the base, furrowed in the lower area (adaxial) and round in the upper (distal) area. The base often remains as a conical stump after the leaf has disintegrated. The rachis is round at the base and angular at the distal end. The numerous leaflets are simply folded, are in a regular arrangement, are pointed and leathery. The midrib is clearly highlighted and has its own shiny, chestnut brown, membranous hair on the underside.
Inflorescences and flowers
The structure of the inflorescences is unique within the palm family .
The inflorescences stand individually between the leaves (interfoliar). They are upright and five (or rarely six) branches. They are protogynous . The peduncle is round in cross section. The cover sheet is two-keeled and Roehrig. The bract on the peduncle is tubular and somewhat puffed up, pointed, rubbery and tears open lengthways. The inflorescence axis is usually shorter than the stem, round and ends in a head of female flowers. Under this head there are seven to nine spirally arranged, somewhat inflated, tubular bracts. In each of these bracts there is a first-order lateral axis. These side axes are fused with one another over their supporting leaves for half their length. Each side axis has a tubular cover sheet from which it is enveloped in the bud stage. The higher order side axes all have a complete, tubular, closed cover leaf and end in a short, kitten-like flower - bearing axis (rachilla). The rachillae bear individually arranged male flowers densely packed in a spiral arrangement, each flower in the axilla of a small bract.
The male flowers are sessile. The three sepals are free, narrow and oblanceolate. The three petals are free, slightly imbricat , resemble the sepals, but are slightly larger. The flower cover is only loosely closed over the stamens in the bud. The three stamens are fused with filaments and connectors to form a solid stem. The anthers are elongated and stand extrors. A stamp rudiment is not available. The pollen is spheroidal and bilaterally symmetrical. The germ opening is a meridional zonasulcus. The diameter is 37 to 80 micrometers.
The female flowers are very different from the male. The three sepals are free and irregularly oblanzeolate. The three petals are similar to those of the male flowers. Staminodes are absent. The three, rarely four carpels are free and, when ripe, are significantly larger than the perianth, which they then cover. They are roughly obovate, asymmetrical and angular due to the mutual pressure. They are pointed distally. The scar opening is a bit to the side and is funnel-shaped. The ovule is anatropic.
Fruits and seeds
The fruits are in an almost spherical fruit cluster. Fertile and only partially developed fruits are mixed in the fruit cluster. One to three carpels form a seed per flower. The fruit develops from a single carpel, it is compressed and irregularly angular. The scar remnant is terminal and is pyramidal. The exocarp is smooth, the mesocarp is fibrous, the endocarp is thick and consists of interwoven strands of fibers. Adaxially there is a longitudinal elevation on the inside that protrudes into the seed.
The seed is broadly ovate, furrowed adaxially with a basal umbilicus (hilum). The raphenous branches rise from the base. The endosperm is homogeneous or rarely grooved (ruminate) and has a central cavity. The embryo is basal.
Germination takes place on the fruit cluster. The fruits are buoyant.
Distribution, locations and endangerment
The distribution area of Nypa fruticans extends from Sri Lanka and the Ganges Delta over Southeast Asia to Australia , the Solomon Islands and the Ryukyu Islands. The species was introduced to the Niger Delta in West Africa in the late 19th century and has since spread to West Cameroon . In Panama and Trinidad the species is now considered naturalized. It may have come here via the ocean current from West Africa.
Nypa occurs exclusively in mangrove forests . It usually grows on soft mud and often forms extensive natural pure stands.
In Guinea pollination was carried Drosophiliden observed, generally a combination of insect pollination and wind pollination is assumed.
The IUCN lists Nypa fruticans as a “least concern” (not endangered).
Systematics
The genus Nypa Steck is very isolated within the Arecaceae family and therefore forms the subfamily Nypoideae alone. The genus is monotypical, it consists of the only species Nypa fruticans . Her sister group are the remaining Arecaceae without the Coryphoideae .
In the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, only the species Nypa fruticans Wurmb is recognized.
The generic name is derived from "nipah", the Malay vernacular name for this taxon .
Fossil history
Nypa is extremely well documented fossil. Mainly fruits and pollen were found, other organs such as leaves, flowers or roots much less often. The sites are distributed globally across the tropical and temperate zones, at least until the global climate deterioration at the end of the Middle Miocene .
The oldest confirmed finds come from the earliest Paleocene of Egypt and the Paleocene of Brazil. Fossil pollen of the genus Spinizonocolpites , which is generally associated with Nypa , is already known from the Maastrichtian of South America, Africa, India and Malesia .
Reports of fruits of Nypa burtini from the Aptian of Europe and Nypa fruits from the Upper Cretaceous of India are questioned.
use
The nipa palm is of some importance in ethnobotanical terms. The leaves are very important as a roofing material. The leaves are less important for the production of cigarette paper or net floats . The inflorescences are tapped, sugar and alcohol are extracted from the juice. The young, gelatinous endosperm of the immature seeds is edible, mostly it is cooked in syrup.
The Nypa stocks play an important role in stabilizing the mud in the estuaries and preventing coastal erosion.
literature
- John Dransfield, Natalie W. Uhl, Conny B. Asmussen, William J. Baker, Madeline M. Harley, Carl E. Lewis: Genera Palmarum. The Evolution and Classification of Palms. Second edition, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2008, ISBN 978-1-84246-182-2 , pp. 209-213.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nypa fruticans in the endangered Red List species the IUCN ., Accessed July 29, 2012.
- ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Nypa. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved July 29, 2012.
- ^ John Dransfield, Natalie W. Uhl, Conny B. Asmussen, William J. Baker, Madeline M. Harley, Carl E. Lewis: Genera Palmarum. The Evolution and Classification of Palms . Second edition, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2008, ISBN 978-1-84246-182-2 , p. 76.
