Licuala parvula Henderson & Nguyen Quoc Dung, 2017

Licuala parvula Henderson & Nguyen Quoc Dung View in CoL sp. nov. ( Fig. 10 View FIGURE 10 )

Type:— VIETNAM. Khanh Hoa Province: Ninh Hoa District, Ba Ho Tourist Area, 12°23’N, 109°08’E, ca. 20 m, 24 Jul 2007, A. Henderson & Ninh Khac Ban 3457 ( holotype HN!, isotype NY!).

It differs from all other species of Licuala in Vietnam its smaller size, short, fibrous ligules, and short, curved inflorescences.

Stems clustered, 1.0– 1.5 m tall, 1.7–3.0 cm diameter. Leaves 9; sheaths 5.0–10.0 cm long, fibrous on the margins; ligules 4.0–10.0 cm long, fibrous; petioles 36.0–96.0 cm long with few, straight thorns to 0.5 cm long proximally; blades 34.0–102.0 cm wide, split into 6–13 segments, these with curved or straight sides; costa not or briefly continuous into central segment; middle segment 18.0–33.0 cm long, 3.7–8.8 cm wide at apex; lateral segment 11.5–26.5 cm long, 0.7–1.2 cm wide at apex; segments briefly indented at the apex, with minute, brown scales abaxially. Inflorescences short amongst the leaf bases, 14.0–25.0 cm long, curving down in fruit, branched to 2 orders; prophylls 5.5 cm long; rachis bracts 1.5–4.0 cm long, funnel-shaped, fraying at the apices; partial inflorescences 4; rachillae 2.5–5.5 cm long, sparsely to densely hairy with short, brown hairs; flowers 5 mm long, 1–2 borne on a short pedicel, these closely and irregularly arranged; calyx 3.5 mm long, densely hairy as the rachillae, tubular at the base, 3-lobed above; corolla 4 mm long, split into 3 petals, these briefly imbricate basally, valvate above, with dense, appressed hairs; stamens 6; staminal ring 1 mm long; anthers oblong; pistil 3 mm long; fruits globose, with reticulate, subepidermal fibers, bright red at maturity.

Distribution and habitat:—Southern Vietnam in Khanh Hoa province in lowland rainforest along rocky stream margins at 20–50 m elevation.

Taxonomic notes:— Henderson (2009) misidentified the specimens cited here as Licuala robinsoniana . Licuala parvula is similar to that species but differs in its smaller size; short fibrous ligule; fewer segments (6–13 versus ca. 20); and short (14.0–25.0 cm long), curved inflorescences ( versus ca. 70.0 cm long, erect inflorescences).

Additional specimens examined. VIETNAM. Khanh Hoa: Ninh Hoa District, Ba Ho Tourist Area , 12.383N, 109.133E, ca. 20 m, 3 July 2010, Henderson & Bui Van Thanh 3654 ( HN, NY) GoogleMaps ; same locality, 12°23’N, 109°08’E, ca. 20 m, 10 Jul October 2016, Henderson & Nguyen Quoc Dung ( NY, VFM) GoogleMaps ; Dien Khanh District, Suoi Tien , 12.203N, 109.027E, ca. 50 m, 4 July 2010, Henderson & Bui Van Thanh 3661 ( HN, NY) GoogleMaps ; Khanh Vinh District, Khanh Trung Commune, Suoi Ca Village , 21 May 2007, Nguyen Quoc Dung 2011 ( NY, VFM) .