sago palm, sagu, sak sak

Description:

The thorny variety of "true sago" (not a cycad but a palm!). Although an important semi-cultivated food source, undisturbed sago swamp is a often a thick and unruly monoculture of large clumps, with trees of all sizes. Since this spotting doesn't show the entire tree please see http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/736... and http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/363... which also provide additional information on this species.

Habitat:

Coastal rain forest/swamp forest atop fossil sand strands and wet swales.

Notes:

In my years traipsing about New Guinea I've had a number of run-ins with these nasty thorns. The map location of this spotting is approximate.