Roystonea regia (Kunth) Cook

  • Authority

    Zona, Scott A. 1996. Roystonea (Arecaceae: Arecoideae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 71: 1-35. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Arecaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Roystonea regia (Kunth) O.F.Cook

  • Type

    Type. Cuba. Near Havana, [s.d.], Bonpland 1276 (holotype, P-Bonpl.).

  • Synonyms

    Oreodoxa regia, Oenocarpus regius (Kunth) Spreng., Roystonea elata (W.Bartram) F.Harper, Palma elata W.Bartram, Roystonea floridana O.F.Cook, Roystonea jenmanii (C.H.Wright) Burret, Euterpe jenmanii C.H.Wright, Roystonea ventricosa (C.H.Wright) L.H.Bailey, Euterpe ventricosa C.H.Wright, Roystonea regia var. hondurensis P.H.Allen

  • Description

    Species Description - Trunk gray-white, to 20(-30) m tall, 37-57.5 cm diam. Leaves ca. 15, lowest leaves hanging below the horizontal; crownshaft ca. 2 m long; rachis ca. 4 m long; middle segments 63-119 cm long and 2.5-4.6 cm wide. Inflorescence ca. 1 m long and 1 m wide; prophyll ca. 36 cm long and 7.3 cm wide; peduncular bract 0.8-1.6 m long and 9.8-13 cm wide, widest at the middle, apex acuminate; rachillae 11-31 cm long and 0.9-2.3 mm diam. Staminate flowers white; sepals triangular, 0.8-1.4 mm long and 0.9-2 mm wide; petals elliptical to ovate, 3.5-6.4 mm long and 2.2-3.5 mm wide; stamens 6-9, 3.2-7.5 mm long; filaments awl-shaped, 2.3-5.6 mm long; anthers 2.4-4.5 mm long; pistillode minute. Pistillate flowers white, 2-4.5 per cm; sepals reniform, 0.7-1.8 mm long and 1.8-3.4 mm wide; petals ovate, 2.7-3.7 mm long; staminode 6-lobed, 1.3-2.8 mm long, free for 0.6-1.2 mm; gynoecium 1.1-3.5 mm long and 0.9-2.6 mm diam. Fruits spheroid to ellipsoid, somewhat dorsiventrally compressed, 8.9-15.1 mm long, 6.9-11.2 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 7-10.9 mm wide; epicarp purplish black, stigmatic scar plain; endocarp ellipsoid, 7.5-11.1 mm long, 6-7.7 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 5.8-7.9 mm wide; seed ellipsoid, somewhat dorsiventrally compressed, 5.5-9.7 mm long, 4-6.3 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 5.1-7.2 mm wide; raphe circular. Eophyll linear-lanceolate, 13.5-19 cm long and 1.3-1.5 cm wide, exstipitate, weakly costate, n = 18 (Sharma & Sarkar, 1957).

  • Discussion

    The nomenclature of the Cuban royal palm is fraught with enough synonyms and inadequate descriptions to confound and bewilder those unfamiliar with the long history of this species. The most significant controversy involves the populations of this species that occur in southern Florida, U.S.A., which have over the years been assigned either to R. regia or R. elata.

    I have been unable to discern any morphological differences between palms representing the Floridian R. elata and those representing the Cuban R. regia. For this reason they are recognized as a single taxon; regrettably, the lesser-known name (R. elata) has nomenclatural priority. Because of the cultural and horticultural importance of this species, long known as R. regia, a proposal has been made to conserve the name R. regia over R. elata (Zona, 1994).

    The historical distribution of this species in the United States-far north of is present range in what is now Putnam, Lake, and Volusia Counties, Florida- was discussed by Small (1937). Cooper (1861) believed that severe winter weather in 1835 may have extirpated more northerly populations. Small (1937) added that freezes in 1894-1895 as well as exploitation of palm wood for the manufacture of walking sticks eliminated Roystonea from north-central Florida.

    Central American populations of R. regia, long known as R. regia var. hondurensis, do not differ substantially from the Cuban populations. Central American populations may have somewhat shorter peduncular bracts, but this structure is not often collected, and what few collections exist overlap in size to the extent that two populations cannot be reliably discerned. The Mexican and Central American populations seem to have a slightly elongated fruit, more elongated than the Cuban populations and approaching R. dunlapiana with which it overlaps in range, but the two can immediately be distinguished by their peduncular bracts. A conservative taxonomy is adopted here, and the Central American and Mexican variety is not recognized as distinct.

    Roystonea jenmanii is represented by two original collections, each bearing Jenman’s number 2057, but one was collected in 1884 and is annotated “Euterpe sp. nov.?” while the other was collected in June 1899 and is annotated “Euterpe jenmanii.” Oddly enough, the two collections appear to represent two species. The 1884 specimen is designated as the lectotype; it matches Roystonea regia, hence R. jenmanii is synon-ymized here. The second collection, from June 1899, appears to be R. borinquena on the basis of floral density on the rachillae. Although the jenmanii epithet predates Cook’s R. borinquena, the latter name stands as the result of the lectotypification and syn-onymization based on the 1884 specimen.

    This is the most commonly encountered taxon in cultivation. Cultivated individuals and their descendants have been mistaken for indigenous populations in Panama (e.g., Beccari, 1912), Costa Rica, Guyana, and elsewhere.

    It is used in Cuba for timber, thatch, and hog feed. It is very popular as a cultivated ornamental.

    Distribution and Ecology: Abundantly distributed throughout the hillsides and valleys of Cuba and the hammocks of the Everglades in Collier, Dade, and Monroe Counties, Florida, U.S.A. (Small, 1928; Austin et al., 1980; Jones, 1983). Also present in the Yucatán Peninsula and Gulf Coastal Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. Indigenous populations also exist in the Cayman Islands. This species appears to be the palm found by Gillis et al. (1975) in the Bahamas. This taxon is very commonly cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics and apparently naturalizes with ease.

  • Common Names

    Florida royal palm, royal palm, palma criolla, palma real, palma de seda, waa, yagua, palma macho, Cuban royal palm, royal palm

  • Distribution

    United States of America North America| Florida United States of America North America| Mexico North America| Campeche Mexico North America| Tabasco Mexico North America| Veracruz Mexico North America| Yucatán Mexico North America| Belize Central America| Honduras Central America| Atlántida Honduras Central America| Cortés Honduras Central America| Cuba South America| Cienfuegos Cuba South America| Granma Cuba South America| Guantánamo Cuba South America| La Habana Cuba South America| Isla de la Juventud Cuba South America| Matanzas Cuba South America| Piñar del Río Cuba South America| Bahamas South America| Cayman Islands South America| Panama Central America|