Palms   Rhapis Introduction

My fascination with the genus Rhapis started around twelve years ago with the purchase of a small multi-stemmed palm at a local nursery sold to me as Rhapis excelsa . But it has since been identified as a Rhapis subtilis a described species from Thailand. As with several other members of the Society my interest in plants was originally with ferns, however after the purchase of my first Rhapis my interest in ferns soon declined. Eventually, my interest in Rhapis changed to infatuation and I now try to acquire any species of the genus that I can lay my hands on.

Rhapis is a small genus with as many as twelve species said to occur in south east Asia and are found in southern China, Thailand, Laos and northern Sumatra (Indonesia). Of the twelve I have been able to find the names of only nine official species with a possible tenth if Rhapis minor is included. They are:

Species	Native To
Rhapis excelsa	China (southern)
Rhapis humilis	China (southern)
Rhapis subtilis	Thailand
Rhapis laosensis	Southern Laos
Rhapis micrantha	Vietnam, Laos, ?
Rhapis filiformis	China (southern)
Rhapis gracilis	China (southern)
Rhapis multifida	Southern China
Rhapis robusta	Southern China
Rhapis minor	?

Of the above only two are commonly available in Australia, they are Rhapis excelsa and Rhapis subtilis . The latter is usually sold in our Australian nurseries as Rhapis humilis but it is now clear that it is not that species.

Other Rhapis species:
Several other species of Rhapis have been reported and, they are, R. 'minor' , R. 'grandifolia' , R. 'elegans' and R. 'ptychophylla '. Of these last named, R. 'minor' is briefly described in literature (Krempin's "Palms & Cycads Around the World"). In Krempin's book there is a photo of R. minor which depicts the palm as a multi-stemmed plant with fine canes that have closely clasping leaf sheaths without the fibres so characteristic of the other Rhapis species . Each cane is topped with glossy dark green leaves which are divided into two or three segments.

Information on Rhapis species is rather hard to come by but the genus is currently under evaluation by Dr John Dransfield and Ms Laura Fitt of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It is to be hoped that some of the confusion that currently exists with the genus will be cleared up in the not too distant future.

There are several books that specialize on the more readily available species of Rhapis and these are:

"Secret of the Orient - Dwarf Rhapis excelsa " by Lynn McKamey

"The Miniature Palms of Japan" by Yoshihiro Okita & J. Leland Hollenberg

The first of which can be purchased through the Society's Bookstore.

 

Contributed by: Heinz-Dieter Froehlingsdorf, South Australia.

Reproduced from PALMS & CYCADS No 39. Apr-Jun 1993.

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