Macarthur palm

Description

Ptychosperma macarthurii, commonly known as the Macarthur palm, is a species of tree in the palm family Arecaceae. Its native range is northern Cape York Peninsula in Queensland with a number of disjunct populations in the Northern Territory and New Guinea. The species has been widely planted in tropical areas and is commonly grown as an indoor plant. Ptychosperma macarthurii was originally described from a specimen collected by Thomas Reedy, a "gardener" on the Chevert Expedition of 1875 whose presence on the expedition was sponsored by Sir William Macarthur, one of the most active and influential horticulturists in Australia in the mid-to-late 19th century. Macarthur forwarded the specimen to the Veitch Nurseries in England, where Harry Veitch described the plant and asked Hermann Wendland to name it in honour of Macarthur. Wendland named it Kentia macarthurii H. Wendl. ex H.J.Veitch, but shortly after, in 1884, Joseph Dalton Hooker published it as Ptychosperma macarthurii (H.Wendl. ex H.J.Veitch) H.Wendl. ex Hook. f. In a 1909 paper by H.J.Wigman the species was classified as Actinophloeus macarthurii Becc. ex Wigman but without any elaboration on the description. In 1935 that genus was synonymised with Ptychosperma and the former (and current) name was reinstated.