Product Description
Habitat and Distribution
This interesting palm is endemic to the island of Viti Levu in the Fiji Islands. Vilaito is an emergent palm which grows in the alluvial plains of the middle Rewa River and the nearby rolling foothills. Much, if not all of this, is secondary forest and undergoing steady clearing for agriculture while the eastern bank of the Rewa is a major mahogany plantation. Neoveitchia survives quite well in open areas and degraded forest. This palm was formerly believed to be restricted to a small area of secondary forest near Naqali in central Vitilevu, but Dylan Fuller and associates showed that it was, in fact, more widespread with a discontinuous population, covering more than 50 km2 on the western side of the Rewa River. More recent observations have found it on the eastern bank of the Rewa River too, surviving in the extensive mahogany plantations of Nukurua, Tailevu, and to the west some way up the Waidina River.
Description
Vilaito is a solitary, moderately stout palm with a light coloured trunk on an expanded base. The trunk normally grows up to 12 m in height and is stout, at about 25 cm in diameter. However, it may grow up to 20 m in height when growing under a high canopy of plantation mahogany. This palm has a full, leafy canopy of 12-15 fronds per crown; the fronds up to 5 m in length with heavy leaflets and a characteristic lateral twist to 90o. The crown shaft is distinctive being incompletely formed and is a glossy dark green to black. A bulky inflorescence arises below the crown shaft, initially white before turning olive green. The fruit mature only on the basal third of the inflorescence, the remainder forming conspicuous white tassels. The fruit are large, up to 5 cm long and 2.5 cm in diameter, and are dull red when mature. Editing by edric.
Culture
Distinctly tropical in its requirements. Likes a lot of water.
Comments and Curiosities
Etymology: The specific epithet; Honors Jacob Storck, the 19th century German assistant to botanist Berthold Seemann.
