rousselli

Palmiste Roussell
Acanthophoenix rousselii is endemic to La Réunion Island, of the Mascarene

Islands, which are part of the Mascarene archipelago. These palms are only found a small area at around 650 m altitude on La Réunion Island, on the outskirts of the town of Tampon (not far from Hyophorbe indica). It has only been found on land owned by a Mr Roussel, hence the name.

A tall, solitary, palm to between 15 and 20 metres (50 - 65 feet) tall. It has pinnate leaves to about 3 metres (9 feet) long, with the rhachis covered in strong black spines, to 2-3 cm, (1 inch) long, and a conspicuious crownshaft. The stem base splays out like an elephants foot, more obvious on the older plants. It basically resembles A rubra except for some subtle differences, such as seed size, leaf style etc, and of course altitude. A rubra is typically lowland, A. roussellii is transitional lowland/highland, A crinita is highland to 2000 m altitude and is white in the crown not red or brown. This species of about fifty palms are greatly threatened, they survive in an agricultural area between 600 and 900 meters in the south of La Réunion Island. About fifteen years ago, some palm accustomed eyes were first puzzled by the seeds size - around four times bigger than the two other i>Acanthophoenix - and then by the abundance of the crown shaft. A. rousselii seeds they have the same look as A. crinita or A. rubra but four times bigger, i.e same shape and this characteristic bump in front of the seed. Seedlings of A. rousselii look like A. rubra without this reddish color on the leaves and no tomentum under, with leaflets that is not the case of A. crinita which has large undivided leaves for the first sprouts.

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