Wax palm

Description

Trunk 8-21 m tall, Solitary, 19-30 cm in diam., internodes covered with thin layers of wax, white at the base, grey to brown towards the apex. Leaves 17-20 (-25) in a hemispheric crown; sheath 75-125 cm long, densely covered with thick, eventually deciduous tomentum of white scales; petiole (10-) 20-30 cm long, 4.5-7.0 cm wide apically, adaxial surface concave to flattened, margins acute, glabrescent, abaxial surface convex, densely covered with thick, deciduous scales or their broken bases, indumentum more persistent towards the margins; rachis 194-270 cm long, adaxially flattened in 2/3-¾ of its length, twisted 90° on distal portion thereby holding the pinnae in a vertical position, abaxial surface covered with an indumentum resembling that of the petiole; pinnae 90-110 on each side, regularly arranged in one plane, horizontal to slightly pendulous, in the latter case forming an angle (abaxially) close to 75°, abaxial surface covered with elliptical, membranaceous, white scales, becoming gradually more scattered with age, midrib covered with one row of translucent, deciduous scales, pinnae at the extreme proximal end filiform, 22-41 (-62) × 0.2-0.3 (-1.4) cm, 10th pinna from base 52-74 × 1-2 cm, middle pinnae 49-80 × 3.5-5.5 cm, 2.3-5.5 cm apart, apical pinnae (15-) 24-31 × 0.5-1.0 cm, usually free, rarely united along the margins.