Wallichia disticha – Plant

Description

Unusual in the genus because of its height Wallichia disticha is a fishtail-like palm from the the Himalayan region with a solitary trunk and large, stiff, feathery leaves arranged in opposite rows in the same plane, one leaf on top or opposite the other. The leaves are pinnate, though, not bipinnate like true fishtail palms. Leaflets vary considerably in shape, from linear to lanceolate.
Stems (trunks): One (or rarely more), naked, annulate to 9 m tall and 25 cm diameter, but usually less than 6 m tall. It has an ornamental dark color of criss-crossed fibres and old leaf bases on the trunk Wallichia disticha is the only species with a trunk of any size, the others being acaulescent bushes.
Crown: Nearly half the hight of the tree.
Leaves: Pinnate 2.4-4.5 m long, arching, arranged in two distinct ranks in 1 plane (distichous) or in a few planes; sheaths 40-60 cm long, fibrous, with coarse, overlapping, black fibers, those of the outer layer thicker than the inner ones; petioles 0.5-1.5 m long; rachis 1.8-3.5 m long; leaflets 45-73 per side of rachis 30-60 cm long and 5-7.5 cm wide, irregularly arranged in clusters of 3-8 pinnae and spreading in several planes, linear or lanceolate, narrow from near the apex to the base and have a large tooth on each side, about the middle, green above, slightly glaucous or silvery grey beneath on the lower surfaces.
Inflorescences: The green flowers are in unisexual clusters 90-180 cm long, male and female borne on the same stem, the pistillate terminal and the staminate lateral. Direction of anthesis amongst inflorescences is basipetal. It is monocarpic like fishtail palms, and once it flowers the individual stem can produce inflorescences for over two years, then it dies.
Staminate inflorescences: to 1.2 m long, pendulous with up to 1000 flowering branches (rachillae) and usually about twice as long as the clusters of female blooms. Staminate flowers to 10 mm long. On staminate rachillae, the direction of anthesis is acropetal.
Pistillate inflorescences: Less than 1 m long with up to 50 rachillae. Pistillate flowers 2 mm long.
Fruits: Ellipsoid, to 2.2 cm long and 1.5 cm diameter. Ripe fruit is reddish brown