A new genus of gigantic palm tree has been discovered in the Analalava district of Madagacar. The trunk of the tree towers over 18m high. The leaves are 5m in diameter. The palm is so massive that it can even be seen in Google Earth. The palm grows to big size and bursts into branches of hundreds of tiny flowers. This terminal flowering exhausts the tree completely and it soon dies. Swarming insects and birds surrounds the flowers. Each flower is capable of developing in to a seed. The confirmation that this is a new genus came from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. There are only three other known genera in this tribe, scattered across Arabia, Thailand and China. Madagascar is home to more than 10,000 plant species and 90% of Madagascar's plants occur nowhere else in the world. Full details of the discovery appear in the latest issue of Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
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