Etymology:
Honouring Dutch botanist
F.A.W. Miquel.
Historical notes: Named by noted French palm taxonomist H Wendland in 1854 and based on plants cultivated in European collections. No original type material appears to have been preserved, and a neotype was designated in 1986. Distinguishing features: Broad thin leaflets with oblique apices and straight, not undulating margins. Distribution and habitat: Chiapas, Veracruz and reported from Tabasco, Mexico, scattered populations ranging from sea level to 600 m alt, in mixed wet evergreen and deciduous forest. Conservation status: Rare. 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants category V.
Description:
Plants acaulescent; stem 100 cm long, stem 20 cm diam. Leaves 5-9 in crown. New growth emerging light green or bluish. Leaves light or bright green, semiglossy, 80-180 cm long, flat (not keeled) in section, with 10-18 leaflets; vernation straight; rachis not or slightly spirally twisted; petiole 30-50 cm long, unarmed. Leaflets not clustered, lanceolate or ovate, asymmetric, broadest above middle, not falcate, weakly discolorous, thick or leathery; margins recurved; median leaflets 22-29 cm long, 40-65 mm wide. Pollen cones yellow-green, narrowly ovoid-cylindrical or fusiform-cylindrical, 12-15 cm long, 3-4 cm diam. Seed cones yellow-green, ovoid-cylindrical, 8-10 cm long, 5-6 cm diam. Seeds ovoid.
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