Basselinia sordida

Very rare species

A stunningly beautiful, slender palm with a solitary, ringed trunk up to 15 cm in diameter and reaching up to 12 m tall. The compact crown consists of around ten ascending, slightly arching and strongly keeled leaves to 2 m long. The glossy green leaflets are wide, regularly arranged, and closely spaced, which, together with the nearly absent leaf stalk, gives the crown a very compact and neat feather-duster appearance. The leafbases form a prominent brownish-silvery crownshaft to 65 cm long. The inflorescence has many stiffly spreading, whitish branches. It is closely related and similar in appearance to Basselinia tomentosa, but distinctly smaller overall. Basselinia sordida is fairly widespread and locally common in low rain and cloud forests on serpentine soils in central New Caledonia at altitudes between 1000 and 1500 m, often on steep slopes and windy ridges. It is one of the hardier New Caledonian palms and even though it will thrive in cool tropical, and many warm temperate climates, there are only a handful of cultivated plants present in collections around the world and seeds have been completely unavailable in the past.