Balaka insularis
| Solfia | |
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| Genus: | Solfia |
| Species: | S. samoensis
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| Binomial name | |
| Solfia paradoxa | |
Solfia is a rare, monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family native to Southeast Asia, where the only species Solfia paradoxa is known as niu aso or māniuniu. Many sources list it as a synonym of Drymophloeus as Solfia whitmeeana was reassigned to that genus, though S. paradoxa is currently recognized.
Description
The trunk is solitary and ringed, colored brown, no more than 8 cm wide. The sheath of the pinnate leaf is extended, wrapping around the trunk to form a tall, slender crownshaft. The petiole is short, the thin rachis bears regularly spaced, reduplicate leaflets with a prominent midrib and jagged ends. The inflorescence emerges below the crownshaft, initially enclosed by a prophyll, with a single peduncular bract. Monoecious, there are staminate and pistillate flowers present in each plant, borne on the rachillae as triads of two males surrounding one female. Fleshy and red when ripe, the fruit becomes wrinkled when dry, carrying one seed with homogeneous endosperm.[2]
Distribution and habitat
Solfia samoensis is one of two palms confined to Samoa, growing in wet, mountainous, montane rain and cloud forests, exceeding 500 m.