Mitiaro fan palm

Description

Pritchardia mitiaroana, the Mitiaro fan palm or Iniao is a species of palm tree that is native to the island of Mitiaro in the Cook Islands. It grows on karst limestone on the island's makatea (fossilised uplifted reef), and grows to a height of 10m. While previously believed to only be found on Mitiaro, in 2007 several clusters of fan palms on the islands of Niau and Makatea in the Tuamotus in French Polynesia were classified as belonging to the same species. Rarotongan oral histories record that there was once a strong sea route between Nuia, the southern Cook Islands and the Marquesas, which could have seen the plant transported between the islands. In 2007 there were an estimated 1000 individuals on Nuia, and around 100 on Makatea. In 2019 there were 491 mature Iniao on Mitiaro. Primula is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. They include the primrose (P. vulgaris), a familiar wildflower of banks and verges. Other common species are P. auricula (auricula), P. veris (cowslip), and P. elatior (oxlip). These species and many others are valued for their ornamental flowers. They have been extensively cultivated and hybridised (in the case of the primrose, for many hundreds of years). Primula are native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, south into tropical mountains in Ethiopia, Indonesia, and New Guinea, and in temperate southern South America. Almost half of the known species are from the Himalayas. Primula has over 500 species in traditional treatments, and more if certain related genera are included within its circumscription. Primula is a complex and varied genus, with a range of habitats from alpine slopes to boggy meadows. Plants bloom mostly during the spring, with flowers often appearing in spherical umbels on stout stems arising from basal rosettes of leaves; their flowers can be purple, yellow, red, pink, blue, or white. Some species show a white mealy bloom (farina) on various parts of the plant. Many species are adapted to alpine climates. Primula was known at least as early as the mediaeval herbalists, although first formally described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753, and later in 1754 in his Flora Anglica. Linnaeus described seven species of Primula. One of its earliest scientific treatments was that of Charles Darwin study of heterostyly in 1877 (The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species).