''Coccothrinax spirituana'' is a fan palm which is

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (b ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to central

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. Populations have been found in

Sancti Spíritus Sancti Spíritus () is a municipality and capital city of the province of Sancti Spíritus in central Cuba and one of the oldest Cuban European settlements. Sancti Spíritus is the genitive case of Latin ''Sanctus Spiritus'' ("Holy Spirit"). H ...

and Ciego de Ávila provinces. Its leaves are ash-grey in colour on their upper and lower surfaces, a characteristic which is not found in other members of the genus. The species was described in 2017. Specimens of the palm were collected in Sancti Spíritus Province in 1975 and 1995.

Description

''Coccothrinax spirituana'' is a small, thornless, single-stemmed palm that reaches a height of . The stems are in diameter. The stems of younger trees are covered with old leaf sheaths, but they become bare in older individuals. The leaf sheaths, which wrap around the trunk of the palm, are long, the petioles are and the central segments of the leaf blade are long. The leaf blades are bluish silver or ash-grey, a feature which is absent from other members of the genus ''Coccothrinax''.

Taxonomy

''Coccothrinax'' has a circum-Caribbean distribution, with most of its diversity in species endemic to the islands of

and Hispaniola. The genus is considered "taxonomically difficult", and in need of a complete taxonomic treatment. Thirty-eight of the 39 accepted species of ''Coccothrinax'' in Cuba are endemic to the island; one species, '' C. fragrans'' is also found on the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and t ...

. ''Coccothrinax spirituana'' was first collected in 1975 and planted in the

Cuban National Botanic Garden Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

and referred to as ''Coccothrinax'' "azul" or ''Coccothrinax'' sp. "blue leaves". Further collections were made in 1995 and 2015; the species was formally described in 2017 by Cuban botanists Celio E. Moya Lopez and

Raúl Verdecia Pérez Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may r ...

based on samples collected by Verdecia in 2015.

Distribution

''Coccothrinax spirituana'' is endemic to Cuba and grows in Cuban cuabales, a dry, evergreen scrub on serpentine soils. Moya and colleagues described it as being known from two populations - one in Sancti Spíritus Province, and another the neighbouring Ciego de Ávila Province, while Brett Jestrow and colleagues describe as being known from a single population in Sancti Spíritus Province.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q65066240 spirituana Trees of Cuba Plants described in 2017