Bentinckia nicobarica is a species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

 in the Arecaceae

Arecaceae

Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...

 family. It is found only in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

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This palm is endemic to Nicobar Islands

Nicobar Islands

The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean...

, found in Great Nicobar, Katchal

Katchal

Katchal is one of the Nicobar Islands, India. Its area is .It is approximately away from mainland and south to capital Port Blair....

, Nancowry

Nancowry

Nancowry refers both to a single island and to the group of adjoining islands that make up the central part of the Nicobar Islands chain, located in the northeast Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea....

 and Car Nicobar Islands

Car Nicobar

Car Nicobar is the northernmost of the Nicobar Islands. It is also one of two local administrative divisions of the Indian district of Nicobar, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands....

.Its population is rapidly declining. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Description

Bentinckia nicobarica is found in lowland rainforest of Nicobar island. It is an endemic palm. It grows about 20m tall and girth is about 25 cm . The stems are used by the the local people in house and fence construction. It is generally seen along with other palm species such as Areca catechu

Areca catechu

Areca catechu is the areca palm or areca nut palm, , a species of palm which grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. The palm is believed to have originated in either Malaysia or the Philippines...

, Pinanga manii

Pinanga

Pinanga is a genus of flowering plant in the Arecaceae family. The following species names have been used in the genus:-Species:*Pinanga acaulis Ridl.*Pinanga acuminata A.J.Hend.*Pinanga adangensis Ridl.*Pinanga albescens Becc....

 and Rhopaloblaste augusta

Rhopaloblaste augusta

Rhopaloblaste augusta is a species of flowering plant in the Arecaceae family.It is found only in India.It is threatened by habitat loss.-Source:* Johnson, D. 1998. . Downloaded on 20 July 2007....

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External links

• http://www.arkive.org/nicobar-palm/bentinckia-nicobarica/
• http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/38450/0
• http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/38450/all Bentinckia nicobarica