Giant palm goes out in blaze of glory

A gigantic palm that flowers itself to death and exists as part of an entirely unique genus has been found in Madagascar.

Tahina spectabilis flowers itself to death

Locals were walking in a remote area of north-western Madagascar when they stumbled across the giant palm and the huge pyramidal bunch of flowers sprouting out of the tip. They had never seen anything like it before and sent photographs of the palm to Dr John Dransfield, co-author of the Palms of Madagascar and an Honorary Research Fellow of Kew, who was astonished when he saw material and images of the tree.

Dr Dransfield said: “I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the images. The palm appeared superficially like the Talipot palm of Sri Lanka, but that had never been recorded for Madagascar. Clearly this was going to be an extremely exciting discovery and I just couldn’t wait to examine specimens in detail.”

The plant - named Tahina spectabilis - has an unusual and spectacular lifecycle. First growing to remarkable heights before the stem tip converts into a giant terminal and bursts into branches of hundreds of tiny flowers. Each flower is capable of being pollinated and developing into fruit and soon drips with nectar and is surrounded by swarming insects and birds. The nutrient reserves of the palm become completely depleted as soon as it fruits and the entire tree collapses and dies.

Leaf fragments were sent to the Jodrell laboratory at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for DNA analysis, where it was found that the palm was not just a new species but an entirely new genus.

“With less than a hundred individuals, this new palm presents significant challenges to conservationists, especially as the habitat seems so limited and flowering and fruiting of such a rare occurrence. We have very few opportunities to manage regeneration at the site or to disseminate it to botanic gardens in Madagascar and elsewhere,” said Dr Dransfield.

A study of the palm was published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.