Factors affecting reproductive behaviour in the New Zealand nikau palm,Rhopalostylis sapidaWendl. et Drude

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Abstract
Inflorescence and seed production was traced over seven consecutive years for the nikau palm, Rhopalostylis sapida, growing in temperate forests of northern New Zealand. Palms reach reproductive maturity when stems exceed a height of about 2.2 m, have about 60 frond scars, and are estimated to be approximately 90 years of age. However, inflorescences on young-mature palms usually aborted, and seed set was low for palms -1 yr-1 correlated positively with rates of frond fall (= frond production), inflorescences palm-1, and seeds inflorescence-1. Reproductive effort rarely exceeded 50%, possibly because of constraints in palm architecture which closely link seed production to frond and stem production. Mature palms in shaded locations produced less seeds than did palms in more open sites. Lianes also reduced seed production by interfering with frond fall and causing inflorescences to abort.