About the plant
Livistona carinensis is native to Djibouti, northern Somalia and southern Yemen. It’s the only representative of its genus in Africa, the other 27 species are native to Asia and Australia.
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Endangered
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.
IUCN Red List Status:
Not yet evaluatedData deficientLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct in the wildExtinct -
MaterialPlant provides materials for manufacturing either fibre or timber
Facts
- Large canopy palm
- Grows up to 40m tall
- Flowers are yellowish green
- Leaves used for thatching and weaving
- Stems used for building and pipes
- Valued as a straight timber
By Eva Kröcher via Wikimedia Commons, GFDL 1.2
© Alain Laurent
© Alain Laurent
© Alain Laurent
© David Stanton
Long lost friends
Livistona carinensis is geographically isolated from the remaining species of the genus. The nearest Livistona are about 4,000km away in northeast India. This raises interesting questions for palm biologists.
It’s likely that the distribution of Livistona was once much more widespread during the time of the northern boreotropical forests (about 5–24 million years ago). But due to geological and climate changes, L. carinensis became isolated in the African-Arabian region in a relict forest fragment.
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Endangered
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.
IUCN Red List Status:
Not yet evaluatedData deficientLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct in the wildExtinct -
MaterialPlant provides materials for manufacturing either fibre or timber