Livistona mariae

Livistona mariae, also known as the central Australian or red cabbage palm, is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is found only in Australia with the best-known occurrence found in Palm Valley in Finke Gorge National Park, Northern Territory. There are more than 3,000 cabbage palms in Palm Valley, many of which are several hundred years old and form a lush oasis among the rugged rocks and gorges. This region is now largely dry Central Ranges xeric scrubland. The palms are not relics from a previous age when Central Australia was much wetter, as previously thought. .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0} Aboriginal legend recorded in 1894 by Carl Strehlow describes 'gods from the north' bringing the seeds to Palm Valley, which concords with the more modern research. A species of Livistona, palm trees of the Arecaceae family found in southern Africa, Asia and Australia. The description was published by Ferdinand Mueller in his Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae. Livistona mariae was found by Ernest Giles on his first expedition to the arid interior of Australia. Mueller referred to the taxon in an earier work describing the Giles expedition, although this was published without a formal description. A lectotype for Mueller's description was nominated in A. N. Rodd's 1998 revision of the genus, identifying one of two specimen sheets at the Melbourne herbarium attributed to Giles, and noted the partial misapplication of the name to Livistona alfredii by Mueller in the same work. Research that concluded a human agency introduced the plants to the area has resulted in changes to the population's taxonomic treatment and, consequently, required reappraisal of their conservation status as a species naturalised around 15000 years ago rather than an endemic persisting since the Miocene era.The authors preparing a treatment of Australian populations of the Arecaceae family for the Flora of Australia, published a note that recognised a previously described species Livistona rigida in Rodd's new combination at the rank of subspecies. Another new taxon, describing specimens collected by Rodd in Western Australia and included in his revision of the genus is also recognised. The circumscription of the species may be summarised as, The common names applied to the species include cabbage palm, central Australian cabbage palm, and red cabbage palm.