CNN Article ... New Palm Species Discovered in Madagascar

I always think its exciting when we find new species of megaflora or megafauna (big plants or big animals.) It's nice to know we haven't seen everything yet.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/01/16/madagascar.palm.tree.ap/index.html

New genus, tahina, species spectabilis. Supposedly the largest palm in Madagascar. Genetic studies indicate it is a member of Chuniophoeniceae.

More, including a picture of the tree flowering:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22690792/

And a better picture:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/01/17/eapalm117.xml

Someone had already added this to the Plantfiles, so I may be the last person to find this out. :) If so, move along, nothing to see here. :)

-Joe

This message was edited Jan 18, 2008 2:39 PM

Thanks for sharing that. Interesting palm, kinda ugly though.
Davie

As usual, the popular press has added some unnecessary and odd "gee whiz" stuff to an otherwise fascinating story.

Examples:
One article says it's "...so large, it can be seen on Google Earth"....my neighbor's dog can also be seen on Google Earth (it is a big dog)

All of the very similar Corypha Palms exhibit the same "flowers growing out the top" and "self destructive"growth habit and lots of other palm species bloom once then die.

Still-an amazing find!