Roystonea borinquena
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Roystonea borinquena. Photograph courtesy of Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, Guide to Palms http://palmguide.org/index.php |
Common name
Puerto Rican royal palm
Description
Stems: Solitary, erect, grayish brown, to 20 m tall and 25-35 cm in diameter, swollen at the base and toward the middle. Leafleaf:
in palms -- the leaf blade (which is usually divided into leaflets or leaf segments), the petiole (or leaf stalk) and the sheath (which forms the attachment of the leaf to the stem)
scars are regular and closely spaced, but not raised or prominent from a distance. Leaves: Pinnatepinnate:
like a feather; palms with pinnate leaves usually have compound leaflets attached to a rachis, although a pinnate leaf may be entire with pinnate veins (e.g., <em>Chamaedorea metallica</em>)
, reduplicatereduplicate:
Most palm leaflets or leaf segments are obviously folded. If the folds create an upside-down V-shape, with the margins lower than the midrib (so that rain might "run off the roof"), the folding is reduplicate.
, to 3 m long, with numerous glossy leaflets in several planes (plumose). The crown shaftcrown shaft:
a cylinder of clasping leaf sheaths toward the apex of the stem, found in some pinnate-leaved palms (e.g., <em>Wodyetia bifurcata</em>)
is bright, glossy green, slightly swollen at the base, and up to 2 m long. Lower leaves droop downward. Leaflets have acute, bifidbifid:
deeply cleft into two usually equal parts or two-lobed from the apex; for example, palms with bifid leaves or leaflet tips (e.g., <em>Chamaedorea metallica</em> has bifid leaves)
tips and scales along the prominent midrib's undersurface. Flowers and fruit: Inflorescenceinflorescence:
the reproductive structure of a flowering plant, including palms, consisting of flowers and associated bracts
to 1-1.5 m long, densely branched to three orders, with crowded separate staminatestaminate:
a flower bearing stamens but no pistils; a “male” flower
and pistillatepistillate:
a flower bearing a pistil but no stamens; a “female” flower
flowers. Male flowers are yellowish to cream colored with purple anthers; female flowers are whitish. Ovoid or nearly spherical, 1-1.5 cm long fruits change from green to yellow-brown to brownish purple when ripe.
Diagnostic features
Majestic, upright, pinnatepinnate:
like a feather; palms with pinnate leaves usually have compound leaflets attached to a rachis, although a pinnate leaf may be entire with pinnate veins (e.g., <em>Chamaedorea metallica</em>)
palm with grayish brown or rusty brown, swollen stem; glossy green leaflets with prominent secondary ribs on either side of the midrib. Male flowers with purple anthers and creamy yellow petals.
May be confused with
Other Roystonea species, see those descriptions for diagnostic features.
Distribution
Native to the Caribbean region
Additional comments
Commonly seen in Hispaniola and sometimes planted as a street tree lining grand boulevards
Scientific name
Roystonea borinquena O.F.Cook
Family
Arecaceae/Palmae
Synonyms
Oreodoxa boriquena (O.F. Cook) Reasoner ex L.H. Bailey
Roystonea hispaniolana L.H. Bailey
Roystonea peregrina L.H. Bailey
