Livistona saribus (Loureiro) Merrill ex A. Chevalier, Arecaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 6 (Go to the risk assessment).

Other Latin names:  Corypha saribus Lour.; Livistona cochinchinensis (Blume) Mart.; Livistona hoogendorpii Teijsm. & Binn. ex Miq.; Saribus cochinchinensis Blume

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: da ye pu kui

English: taraw palm

Filipino: serdang, tarao

Malayan: sar

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Hermaphroditic palm. Trunk to 40 m tall, 15-65 cm d.b.h., leaf scars raised, internodes broad, petiole stubs persistent in the basal 2 m or so. Leaves 25- 30 in a ± globose crown; petiole arching, 100-200 cm long, to 12 cm wide in proximal portion, to 15 mm wide in distal portion, adaxially flat to slightly ridged, glabrous, green to green-purple to green-red, glossy, frequently with a reddish-purple longitudinal stripe; margins with large, single, retrorsely recurved, green to brown spines 10-60 mm long, largest and closer in the proximal portion; leaf-base fibres moderately fibrous, coarse, persistent; lamina costapalmate, irregularly segmented, with segments grouped and with divisions between each group of segments deeper into the lamina than the divisions between individual segments, subcircular, 80-200 cm long, 150-170 cm wide, adaxially green, abaxially a similar green; lamina divided into groups of 2-12 segments separated from adjacent groups by a deep split that almost reaches the hastula; lamina divided for 37-78% of its length, with 80-90 segments, depth of apical cleft 19-50% of the segment length, apical lobes pendulous; parallel veins 6-7 each side of midrib; transverse veins thinner than parallel veins. Inflorescences unbranched at the base, 60-230 cm long, not extending beyond the limit of the crown, curving, branched to 4 orders; partial inflorescences 4-9, 45-60 cm long; prophyll not seen; peduncular bract(s) lacking; rachis bracts loosely sheathing, glabrous; rachillae 15-45 cm long, drooping, yellow, glabrous. Flowers in clusters of 3-5, 1.5-1.75 mm long, yellow; sepals suborbicular; petals broadly triangular, obtuse. Fruit globose, or ellipsoid to reniform, 11-25 mm long, 10-18 mm in diameter, often bilobed, glossy blue to purple; epicarp thin with scattered lenticellular pores; suture line extends for full length of the fruit, marked with lip-like structures; mesocarp fleshy, 1.0-1.5 mm thick; endocarp crustaceous; pedicel 1-3 mm long, ca 3 mm wide. Seed globose to ellipsoid, 9-24 mm long, 9-10 mm in diameter, apically pointed; endosperm intruded for ca half its width; embryo lateral. Eophyll 6-8-ribbed. (Dowe, J. L., cited in Palmweb).

"Stems to 40 m tall, to 65 cm in diameter, rough with leaf scars. Leaves palmate; petioles 1-2 m, with green to brown, recurved spines along margins, spines denser proximally, fewer distally on petioles; blades almost circular in outline, 1.5-1.7 m wide, green adaxially and abaxially, irregularly divided for up to 1/2 their length into 80-90 segments, segments in groups, each group separated by a split almost to base of leaf, segments deeply split and pendulous at apices. Inflorescences to 2.3 m, branched to 3 orders, with 4-9 partial inflorescences; rachillae 15-45 cm; flowers borne in clusters of 3-5, yellowish, to 2 mm. Fruits blue or blue-gray, globose to ellipsoid, to 2.5 x 2 cm"  (Flora of China online).

Habitat/ecology:  "In rainforest or swampforest as scattered individuals or in small to very large colonies, and occasionally in watercourses and adjacent lopes, at 0-600 m altitude. Occurs in peatforest and mangroves in central Sumatra (Dransfield, 1974, and Laumonier, 1997, cited in Palmweb).  In China (native), "Lowland rain forests or dry forests, often in periodically inundated habitats; below 600-1100 m"  (Flora of China online).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Indonesia, Philippines; also cultivated (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island		National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.) (year unknown) (voucher ID: PTBG 46605) Taxon name on voucher: Livistona saribus
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced cultivated	Randall, R. P. (2007) (p. 286)
Cambodia Cambodia	Cambodia (Kingdom of)		Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013)
China China	China (People's Republic of)		Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013) Lowland rain forests or dry forests, often in periodically inundated habitats; below 600-1100 m. Guangdong, Yunnan
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	native	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013) Java, Sumatra
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)		Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013) Malaya
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 56)
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)		Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)		Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Livistona saribus, please let us know.