Nannorrhops ritchiana, the Mazari palm, is the sole species in the genus Nannorrhops in the palm family Arecaceae.
Distribution It is native to southwestern Asia, from the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula east through Iran and Afghanistan to Pakistan in the historical region of Balochistan, growing at altitudes of up to 1,600 m.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant FamiliesGovaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.Mosti, S., Raffaelli, M. & Tardelli, M. (2006). A contribution to the flora of Wadi Abdur (Dhofar, Southern Oman). Webbia: Journal of Plant Taxonomy and Geography 61: 253-260.
Description It is a shrub-like clumping palm, with several stems growing from a single base. The stems grow slowly and often tightly together, reaching up to . It is a fan palm (Arecaceae tribe Corypheae), with the leaves long, rarely to long, with a long, smooth (unspined) petiole long terminating in a rounded fan wide with 8–15 (–40) leaflets, each leaflet long, with a distinct glaucous blue-green to grey-green colour.
The flowers are borne in tall, open clusters up to long at the top of the stems; the flowers are hermaphrodite. The fruit is a brown drupe 0.6–1.8 cm diameter, containing a seed 1.15-1.5 cm long and 1.1-1.5 cm wide. The individual stems are monocarpic, dying back to the ground after flowering, with the plant continuing growth from basal sprouts.
Cultivation It is one of the hardier palms, tolerating winter frosts down to about (possibly even ), though it requires very hot summers for good growth. It can be grown in USDA zones 6-11. It is occasionally grown as an ornamental plant in southern Europe and southern North America, but is not widely cultivated.
References
External links
Fairchild Guide to Palms: Nannorrhops PACSOA: Nannorrhops Scanpalm Nannorrhops