Normanbya

Normanbya normanbyi is visually very similar to the more well-known Foxtail palm but is slightly smaller in all respects. It is a single-stemmed palm with attractive "bushy" fronds, similar to a bottlebrush. It grows to a height of {{cvt|30|m}} with a small crown of fronds each measuring around {{cvt|2.5|m}} long with a petiole about {{cvt|30|cm}} long.{{cite web |title=Normanbya normanbyi |url=https://www.jcu.edu.au/discover-nature-at-jcu/plants/plants-on-cairns-campus/normanbya-normanbyi |website=JCU Australia |publisher=JCU |access-date=3 April 2021}} The fronds have 75-95 whorled pinnae (leaflets) up to {{cvt|45|cm}} in length, each of which are divided longitudinally into 7-11 radiating segments, giving the fronds the bushy appearance. The pinnae are dark green on the upper surface and silvery underneath and the tips are abruptly truncated (like a fishtail).

The inflorescence (grouping of flowers) is a panicle and is borne on the trunk just below the crownshaft. They are around {{cvt|90|cm}} long and the sessile (stemless) green flowers are grouped in threes, each with one pistillate (functionally female) and two staminate (functionally male) flowers. The staminate flowers have 24 to 40 stamens, the pistillate flowers have three strongly recurved stigmas.{{Cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=Wendy |last2=Cooper |first2=William T. |author-link2=William T. Cooper |date=June 2004 |title=Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest |place=Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia |publisher=Nokomis Editions |isbn=9780958174213 |url=https://www.nokomis.com.au/product/nokomis-published-books/fruits-australian-tropical-rainforest/ |access-date=30 March 2021 |page=73}}

Ripe fruit measure {{convert|35|to|50|mm|in|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|25|to|40|mm|in|abbr=on}} wide, and are pink to reddish-brown in colour. They contain a single seed about {{convert|35|by|25|mm|in|abbr=on}}.

The basionym of this species is Cocos normanby, described in 1874 by Walter Hill from a specimen he found on the banks of the Daintree River, and named by him in honour of the then Governor of Queensland George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby.{{citation |last=Hill |first=Walter |title=Report on the Brisbane Botanic Garden |date=1874 |url=https://archive.org/download/ReportOnTheBrisbaneBotanicGarden/Report-on-the-Brisbane-Botanic-Garden.pdf |website=Archive.org |page=6 |access-date=30 April 2023}} In 1930 the American botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey reclassified it under its current name.

This species is restricted to a small part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site, specifically the area from just south of Rossville to just south of the Daintree River near Mossman. It grows in tropical rainforest in altitudes from sea level up to {{cvt|700|m}}. There is also a single confirmed sighting of the black palm from Moa Island in the Torres Strait, which is roughly {{cvt|695|km}} north of Rossville.{{cite web |title=Search: SPECIES: Normanbya normanbyi {{!}} Occurrence records {{!}} The Australasian Virtual Herbarium |url=https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Normanbya+normanbyi#tab_mapView |website=The Australasian Virtual Herbarium (AVH) |publisher=Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH) |access-date=1 April 2021}}

Fruits of the Black palm are eaten by cassowaries and sulphur-crested cockatoos. Whilst the cassowary swallows the fruit whole and passes the seed out in its droppings, thereby assisting in spreading the seeds throughout the forest, the cockatoos will remove the fruit's flesh and chew into the seeds themselves, destroying their ability to germinate.

The Kuku Yalanji people, who are the original inhabitants of the area where this palm is found, had many uses for the plant. The very hard timber was split along the length of the trunk to make spears, clapsticks, nulla nullas and digging sticks.{{cite book |last1=Nielsen |first1=Lloyd |title=Daintree: Jewel of Tropical North Queensland |date=1997 |publisher=Lloyd Nielsen |location=Mount Molloy, Queensland |isbn=0-646-41153-5 |page=16}}{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=John |last2=Fisher |first2=Colin (CJ) |last3=Gibson |first3=Roy |title=A Guide to Traditional Aboriginal Rainforest Plant Use |date=1995 |publisher=Bamanga Bubu Ngadimumku Inc. |location=Mossman, Queensland |isbn=0-646-22991-5 |page=15}} The buds and new shoots can be eaten and a fibre made from the crownshafts was used as a string to tie spear heads to the shafts, fish traps and cradles.

In the IUCN's Red List, this species is assessed as vulnerable, but in the Australian state of Queensland (where the plant is endemic) it is considered to be of least concern.{{cite web |title=Species profile—Normanbya normanbyi (black palm)|url=https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species-search/details/?id=15210 |website=Environment, Land and Water |publisher=Queensland Government |access-date=30 March 2021}}

The IUCN cites "land clearance" as the justification for the vulnerable status of Normanbya normanbyi. While much of the area where it grows is protected under both Queensland's National Park system and the World Heritage listing, there is also a significant portion of lowland rainforest that is privately owned, uncleared land, and which has an uncertain future in regard to the preservation of the natural habitat.{{cite web |title=A Changing Environment |url=https://www.wettropics.gov.au/other-threats-to-the-wha |website=Wet Tropics Management Authority |publisher=Queensland Government |access-date=2 April 2021}}

Normanbya normanbyi is visually very similar to the very popular Foxtail palm (Wodyetia bifurcata) but is not as widely planted as the latter. It may be grown from fresh seed{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=David L. |date=1986 |title=Rainforest Plants of Australia |publisher=Reed Books |isbn=0-7301-0381-1 |page=329 }} and is also available at many plant nurseries. It requires a shady position when young, well-drained soil and plentiful water.{{cite web |title=Normanbya normanbyi |url=https://www.gardensonline.com.au/GardenShed/PlantFinder/Show_2827.aspx |website=GardensOnline |access-date=2 April 2021}}

Image:Normanbya normanbyi.jpg |At Harry P. Leu Gardens

Image:Normanbya normanbyi trunk SF21098.jpg |Trunk, growing amongst lush tropical foliage in the Cairns Botanic Gardens, Queensland, Australia

Image:Normanbya normanbyi crown and inflorescences SF21098.jpg |Crown and inflorescences, Cairns Botanic Gardens, Queensland, Australia

Image:Normanbya-normanbyi-SF22124-02.jpg |A row of Black palms growing in Sugarworld Gardens, May 2022

Image:Normanbya-normanbyi-SF22259-03.jpg |Fruiting in Cairns Botanic Gardens, September 2022

{{Reflist}}

• {{Wikispecies-inline|Normanbya normanbyi |Normanbya normanbyi}}
• {{Commons category-inline| |Normanbya normanbyi}}
• [https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Normanbya+normanbyi#tab_mapView View a map] of historical sightings of this species at the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
• [https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations?taxon_id=365689 View observations] of this species on iNaturalist
• [https://flickriver.com/search/Normanbya+normanbyi View images] of this species on Flickriver

{{Arecaceae genera}}

{{Taxonbar|from1=Q13076538|from2=Q1936514}}

Category:Ptychospermatinae

Category:Palms of Australia

Category:Vulnerable flora of Australia

Category:Flora of Queensland

Category:Vulnerable biota of Queensland

Category:Monotypic Arecaceae genera

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot