5729

5(3): Timber trees; Lesser-known timbers

Livistona R. Br.

Prodr.: 267 (1810).

PALMAE

x = 18; L. australis (R. Br.) Mart., L. chinensis (Jacq.) R. Br. ex Mart., L. rotundifolia: n = 18

Cabbage palm, fan palm (En). Indonesia: serdang (general). Malaysia: serdang (general). Philippines: anahau. Burma (Myanmar): taung-htan. Vietnam: c[oj] s[er], l[as] n[os] s[er].

Livistona comprises about 28 species occurring in the Horn of Africa and adjacent Arabia, the Himalayas, Indo-China, China, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, Thailand, throughout the Malesian region as far as the Solomon Islands and Australia; Australia harbours the greatest diversity of species.

The trunks of Livistona are commonly used as house posts and for salt-water piling in the Philippines. Trunks may also be driven into the mud and used as structural support for fish cages established in freshwater lakes. The outer part of the trunk is sometimes stripped and used for wall covering, flooring, ceiling, but small pieces have also been used for small articles like suitcases, bows, walking-sticks and spear shafts. The wood of mature trunks is suitable for the manufacture of furniture.
Several species, but notably L. chinensis and L. rotundifolia, are commonly planted as ornamentals. The dried young leaves are used as a packing material, or stripped and woven into sun hats. The leaves are much prized by the indigenous people of Malesia and are commonly used to thatch roofs and may be sewn together and made into boat sails or raincoats; in the Philippines those of L. saribus are made into brooms. The palm cabbage (apex) is edible and resembles that of the coconut (Cocos nucifera L.). Palm heart and young fruits are occasionally eaten, the latter may also be made into sweets.

No exact figures are available, but in the Philippines there is much demand for Livistona poles for construction purposes. In North Sulawesi the leaves of L. rotundifolia are harvested commercially for roofing.

A density of up to 880 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content has been reported for the lower stem periphery of L. rotundifolia. Cortex 1-2 cm wide, black with whitish or yellow streaks; central vascular bundles each with numerous fibres sheathing the small phloem strand, xylem sheathed by parenchyma, metaxylem usually containing 2 wide vessels, in L. rotundifolia the number of vascular bundles per cm² rises from the base to 13 m height in the periphery from 125 to 175, in the transition zone from 60 to 105 and in the centre from 35 to 45; the vascular bundles are on their outer sides studded with rows of silica cells (stegmata); ground parenchyma cells isodiametric, elongated laterally near the vascular bundles.
Shrinkage in the lower stem increases from 5% in the core to up to 7.7% in the periphery, degrade is only slight, mainly warping and checking; shrinkage of material from halfway up the pole is moderate. Boards 30 mm thick take about 3 months to air dry from the green condition. The wood is very hard and is considered one of the hardest palm woods. Saw blades are rapidly blunted when sawing Livistona wood. The wood is fairly easy to plane and takes a high polish. Other machining properties are rated as poor to fair; turning is rated as fair to very good. The wood is very durable in protected situations.
The average fibre length of L. rotundifolia is 1.90-2.25 mm and of L. saribus 1.35-1.80 mm.
See also the table on wood properties.

Armed or unarmed, pleonanthic, solitary, shrub or tree-like palms up to 25(-40) m tall; pole straight, rather slender, up to 30 cm in diameter, conspicuously to obscurely ringed with leaf scars. Leaves palmate or costapalmate; sheath disintegrating into fibres; petiole armed or unarmed; blade many-folded, variously split along the ribs. Inflorescence borne between the leaves, solitary, branched to 5 orders; peduncle elongated. Flowers small, bisexual, solitary or in groups of up to 5, sessile on low tubercles or slender stalks; calyx with 3 triangular lobes; corolla with 3 valvate lobes, grooved inside; stamens 6, filaments connate to form a ring; ovary superior, 3-carpellate with a single ovule in each carpel, carpels united distally, style slender, stigma capitate or minutely 3-lobed. Fruit a smooth, 1-seeded, globose or ellipsoid to pyriform, green, scarlet, blue-green, dark brown or black drupe, only 1 carpel developing. Seed with homogeneous endosperm, intrusion of the integument lateral. Seedling with remote-tubular germination; eophyll lanceolate, plicate, minutely toothed apically.
The leaves are deciduous breaking off cleanly or persistent, hanging down long after they have died. Flowering of L. endauensis is seasonal; gregarious flowering has been observed in early April. Flowers produce nectar and are pollinated by insects. The fruits are eaten and dispersed by various animals and birds.
Livistona is closely related to Licuala and Pholidocarpus. It belongs to the subtribe Livistoninae of the tribe Corypheae within the subfamily Coryphoideae.

Livistona can be found in a wide variety of primary rain forest habitats including freshwater and peat-swamp forest (L. saribus), montane forest (L. speciosa, L. tahanensis), and lowland forest (L. rotundifolia); outside Malesia also in dry savanna woodland. Livistona species are frequently gregarious, e.g. L. rotundifolia in Sulawesi and L. endauensis in Peninsular Malaysia. The latter prefers shallow soils.

Livistona can be propagated by seed, which remains viable for 4-6 weeks. L. rotundifolia seeds germinate in 31-50 days. In a study on wild L. rotundifolia in North Sulawesi where leaves are commercially harvested for roofing, an annual yield per palm of 2-3 leaves seemed sustainable, in combination with management of young, still non-productive palms. The coconut weevil (Diocalandra frumenti) attacks Livistona palms. Elephants feed on the cabbage of L. tahanensis.

L. rotundifolia is threatened in the Philippines and North Sulawesi due to over-exploitation of natural stands for posts, piles and roofing material. L. tahanensis and L. endauensis are rare but not endangered. In Peninsular Malaysia the former is endemic to the National Park Taman Negara, the latter is conserved in the Endau-Rompin State Forest Park.

Although it is unlikely that the use of Livistona wood will increase, plantations of L. rotundifolia in the Philippines and North Sulawesi may be feasible, as demand for construction wood and roofing material is still high.

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L.G. Saw

Livistona endauensis
Livistona hasseltii
Livistona merrillii
Livistona robinsoniana
Livistona rotundifolia
Livistona saribus
Livistona speciosa
Livistona tahanensis

Saw, L.G., 1998. Livistona R. Br.. In: Sosef, M.S.M., Hong, L.T. and Prawirohatmodjo, S. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(3): Timber trees; Lesser-known timbers. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea

The following species in this genus are important in this commodity group and are treated separatedly in this database:
Livistona endauensis
Livistona hasseltii
Livistona merrillii
Livistona robinsoniana
Livistona rotundifolia
Livistona saribus
Livistona speciosa
Livistona tahanensis