Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Arecales Bromhead
Family
Palmae Juss.
Genus
Rhopalostylis H.Wendl. & Drude
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Rhopalostylis baueri (Seem.) H.Wendl. & Drude (1875)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Kentia baueri Seem., Fl. Vit. 1, 269 ( [1868])
  • = Areca sapida Sol. ex G.Forst. (1786) nom. nud., pro parte
  • = Areca sapida Endl., Prodr. Fl. Norfolk. 26 (1833)
  • ≡ Kentia sapida (Endl.) Mart. (1837)
  • = Rhopalostylis cheesemanii Becc., Trans. New Zealand Inst. 49: 47 (1917)
  • ≡ Rhopalostylis baueri var. cheesemanii (Becc.) Sykes, Bull. New Zealand Dept. Sci. Industr. Res. 219 (1977)
Vernacular Name(s):
Kermadec Island nikau
 Description

Similar in size, habit and indumentum to R. sapida. Infl. often larger, flowering branches reaching 35 cm. or more long. Sepals relatively shorter, the longest one in ♂ rarely = petals. Fr. c. 13 × 12 mm., subglobose, brick-red. Seed almost spherical, tightly invested in pale fawn endocarp which is marked by several vascular strands curving ± obliquely from hilum and only a few running longitudinally; hilum a broad band from the slightly flattened chalazal area to a pronounced papilla beside the micropyle.

[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2 as Rhopalostylis cheesemanii Becc.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
Beccari, O. 1917: On a New South Polynesian Palm, with Notes on the Genus Rhopalostylis Wendl. et Drude. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 49: 47–50.
de Lange, P.J.; Gardner, R.O.; Sykes, W.R.; Crowcroft, G.M.; Cameron, E.K.; Stalker, F.; Christian, M.L.; Braggins, J.E. 2005: Vascular flora of Norfolk Island: some additions and taxonomic notes. New Zealand Journal of Botany 43(2): 563–596.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Naturally uncommon]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Naturally Uncommon]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Naturally Uncommon]
Endlicher, S.F.L. 1833: Prodromus Florae Norfolkicae. Beck, Wien.
Seemann, B. 1868: Flora Vitiensis. Vol. 1. Reeve, London.
Sykes, W. R. 1977: Kermadec Islands Flora: An annotated check list. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin 219: [1]–216.