Normanbya is a monotypic genus of palms containing the single species Normanbya normanbyi, which is known by the common name black palm It is endemic to Queensland, Australia and is threatened by habitat destruction. Description Normanbya normanbyi is visually very similar to the more well-known Foxtail palm but is slightly smaller in all respects. It is a single-stemmed palm with attractive "bushy" fronds, similar to a bottlebrush. It grows to a height of with a small crown of fronds each measuring around long with a petiole about long. The fronds have 75-95 whorled pinnae (leaflets) up to in length, each of which are divided longitudinally into 7-11 radiating segments, giving the fronds the bushy appearance. The pinnae are dark green on the upper surface and silvery underneath and the tips are abruptly truncated (like a fishtail). The inflorescence (grouping of flowers) is a panicle and is borne on the trunk just below the crownshaft. They are around long and the sessile (stemless) green flowers are grouped in threes, each with one pistillate (functionally female) and two staminate (functionally male) flowers. The staminate flowers have 24 to 40 stamens, the pistillate flowers have three strongly recurved stigmas. Ripe fruits measure between long and in width, and are pink to reddish-brown in colour. They contain a single seed about . Taxonomy The basionym of this species is Cocos normanby, described in 1874 by Walter Hill from a specimen he found on the banks of the Daintree River, and named by him in honour of the then Governor of Queensland Sir Henry Wylie Norman. In 1930 the American botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey reclassified it under its current name. Distribution and habitat This species is restricted to a small part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site, specifically the area from near Cow Bay to just south of the Daintree River near Mossman. It grows in tropical rainforest in altitudes from sea level up to . Ecology and uses Fruits of the Black palm are eaten by cassowaries and sulphur-crested cockatoos. Whilst the cassowary swallows the fruit whole and passes the seed out in its droppings, thereby assisting in spreading the seeds throughout the forest, the cockatoos will remove the fruit's flesh and chew into the seeds themselves, destroying their ability to germinate. The Kuku Yalanji people, who are the original inhabitants of the area where this palm is found, had many