Palmoxylon kamalam rode from Kondhali, district Nagpur, M.S., and its resemblance with other palms

Abstract

The Paper gives an account of Palmoxylon kamalam Rode described from a new locality in the Deccan Intertrappean Series at Kondhali, near Nagpur. This is the largest and complete specimen of the tree trunk of Palmoxylon kamalam described so far. It shows transitional zone between dermal and subdermal zone, the subdermal zone and the central zone. This makes it possible to compare it with the entire T.S. of the stem of living palms. It was found that it greatly resembles with the stem of Roystonea regia. The sparse distribution of the fibrovascular bundles, their complanate dorsal caps and highly lacunar ground parenchyma bear a very close similarity with those in Roystonea. This genus is of South American origin and grows in marshy area or near lake. Looking to the fact that palms occur in such diverse areas they seem to have had more than one centre of origin.