抄録
We analyzed the leaf characters of the two folk varieties of sago palm, Molat (Roe) and Rotan (Rui), from the time of trunk formation until harvesting (from the flower bud formation to the flowering stage) in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. Leaf length, petiole + leaf sheath length, and specific leaf area (SLA) tended to decrease with increasing years after trunk formation (YATF) in both varieties. The length of the leaf, rachis, and petiole + leaf sheath sharply decreased acropetally at the flowering stage in Rotan. In Molat, the number of leaves, number of leaflets per leaf, longest leaflet length, leaflet width and area, and area per leaf and per palm increased with increasing YATF. In Rotan, the leaf and leaflet characters showed very few changes, only the number of leaflets increased with increasing YATF, except at the flowering stage. In both varieties, the average leaf area per leaf was more closely related to the leaflet area than to the number of leaflets, and the leaf area per palm was more closely related to the number of leaves than to the leaf area per leaf. Except for SLA, all the leaf and leaflet characters showed higher values in Molat than in Rotan. For almost all the characters, the magnitude of the difference between varieties increased with increasing YATF. These results suggest that the difference in starch yields between the two varieties might be related to differences in the leaf area per palm.
