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Trees bearing the Largest Leaves in the World
Trees bearing the Largest Leaves in the World
| Type. | Species and Family. | Where from? | Length. | Width. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largest overall leaf; Largest Monocot leaf; Largest pinnate leaf. | Raphia regalis. Palmae or Arecaceae. | West Africa from Nigeria to Angola. This individual in Congo (Brazzaville). | 85 feet (26 meters) overall. The lamina, or blade, is 54 feet (16 meters) and the petiole, or stalk is 31 feet (9.4 meters) | About ten feet (three meters) wide. | |
| Largest bipinnate leaf. | Caryota kiriwongensis. Palmae or Arecaceae. | Peninsular Thailand. | 36′ 1″ (eleven meters) overall. Lamina length 26′ 3″ (eight meters). Petiole is only 20 inches (50 cm) joined to crownshaft sheath 8′ 2″ (2.5 meters) long. | 23 feet (7 meters) in width. | |
| Largest costapalmate leaf. (Petiole extends into the palmately veined lamina as a rachis). | “Coco-de-Mer”, or “Double Coconut”. Lodoicea maldivica. Palmae, or Arecaceae. | Seychelles Islands, about 800 miles northeast of Madagascar. | Up to 49.2 feet (15 meters) overall. Acaulescent juveniles have the longest leaves, with a lamina up to 19.7 feet (six meters) joined to a petiole 29.5 feet (nine meters) with no overlap. | Lamina up to fifteen feet (4.6 meters) wide. | |
| Largest true palmate leaf (rachis very small, or nonexistent, and all the veins radiate from a single point). | “Dondah” Corypha macropoda. Palmae, or Arecaceae. | Endemic to Termoklee Island near South Andaman in the Andaman Islands south of Burma. | Approximately 35 feet (11 meters). Lamina twenty feet (6.1 meters) long partly overlaps the 25 feet (7.6 meters) petiole. | Lamina up to twenty feet (6.1 meters) wide. | |
| Largest simple (undivided) tree leaf. | “Monkey-Cap Palm” Manicaria saccifera. Palmae, or Arecaceae. | Neotropical flood forests. | Up to 34 feet (10.3 meters) all told. Lamina is thirty feet (9.1 meters) plus a four-foot (1.2-meter) petiole. | Maximum width 7′ 8″ (2.3 meters) Expressed as “23 decimeters”. | |
| Largest treefern leaf; Largest non-palm. | “Mule’s Foot Fern”, or “Paku Gajah”. Angiopteris evecta. Marattiaceae. | Southern Asia, East Indies, Melanesia, Polynesia, Queensland and Madagascar. | 29.5 feet (nine meters) overall. 23 feet (seven meters) lamina plus 6.5 foot (two meter) petiole which can be up to four inches (ten cm) thick. | 6.5 feet (two meter) width. Bipinnate, | |
| Largest quadripinnate leaf. (Leaflets are the fourth order of branching). | “Black Treefern”, or “Mamaku”. Cyathea medullaris. Cyatheaceae. | New Zealand, Fiji and Polynesia. | 23 feet (seven meters) overall. 19.7 feet (six meter) lamina with a 3′ 3″ (one meter) petiole. | 6.5 feet (two meter) width. | |
| Largest Gymnosperm leaf. | “Kwango Giant Cycad”, or “Malele”. Encephalartos laurentianus. Zamiaceae. | Endemic to the Kwango River Basin, Bandundu Province, Congo (Kinshasa). | Overall length 23 feet (seven meters) and massively constructed. Lamina 22 feet (6.7 meters) plus a one-foot (30 cm) petiole which is up to three inches (8 cm) thick. | 35 inch (90 cm). | |
| Largest indeterminate leaf (never stops growing). | “Tumbo”. Welwitschia mirabilis. Welwitschiaceae. | Coastal Namibia and southwestern Angola. | Living portion up to 12.2 feet (3.7 meters) long, usually with several feet of dead leaf still attached. No petiole. New leaf tissue emerges from a lip-like groove around the top of the trunk. Other, much narrower green segments have been up to 24 feet (7.3 meters) in length. | Segments have been measured up to 5.9 feet (stated as “179 cm”) in width. | |
| Largest Dicot tree leaf. | “Midnight Horror” Oroxylon indicum. Bignoniaceae. | East Indies, Southeast Asia, India and Sri Lanka. | Up to 14.44 feet (4.4 meters) total length. Lamina up to 7.9 feet (240 centimeters) plus a petiole up to 6.5 feet (two meters) in length. | Lamina up to seven feet (2.13 meters) in width. | |
| Largest linear leaf (greatly elongated lamina with mostly or entirely parallel veins running lengthwise. No petiole). | Pandanus laxespicatus Pandanaceae. | Endemic to swamps near Perinet (Analamazaotra), Madagascar. | Up to 32.8 feet (ten meters) on juvenile plants. | Up to 14 inches (36 cm) in width. | |
| Largest entire (undivided, unlobed, untoothed) tree leaf. | Traveler’s Tree Ravenala madagascarensis subspecies bemavo (Strelitziaceae). | Hills of eastern Madagascar. | Total length up to 36.1 feet (eleven meters). Petiole up to 19.7 feet (six meters) bearing a lamina up to 16.4 feet (five meters) long. | Up to five feet (1.5 meters) in width. | |
| Greatest surface area of any dicot leaf. Largest entire dicot leaf. | “Maior Folha” Coccoloba inpae Polygonaceae. | Amazon rainforest. Thus far only in eastern Brazil. | Up to 8 feet 2 inches (2.50 meters) plus a petiole of about four inches (10 cm). The tree is a single rosette of leaves atop a 43-foot (13-meter) unbranched trunk. | Up to 4 feet 9 inches (1.44 meters) in width. | |
| Largest palmately divided leaf (all leaflets attached at one point to the petiole tip). | Longispadix sp. nov. Palmae, or Aceraceae. | Endemic to Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. | 24 or more wedge-shaped leaflets forming a circle about 8 feet (2.5 meters) in diameter, on a petiole of comparable length. | ||
| Largest peltate leaf. (Petiole is attached at or near the center of the lamina, as in Tropaeolum majus and Nelumbo nucifera). | “Chia Kubit” Macaranga gigantea. Euphorbiaceae. | Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Java and Celebes. | Lamina up to five feet (1.52 meters) long with a petiole of similar length attached to the upper central region. | Also up to five feet (1.52 meters) in width. | |
| Largest succulent tree leaf. | “Berg-Aalwyn” Aloe marlothii Liliaceae. | South Africa. | Six feet (1.83 meters) long. | 12 inches (30 cm) wide. |