''Roystonea borinquena'', commonly called the Puerto Rico royal palm (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: ''palma real puertorriqueña''), is a species of

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 **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

which is native to

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

(in both the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

and

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands () are an archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, geographically forming part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, Caribbean islands or West Indie ...

Description

''Roystonea borinquena'' is a large palm which usually reaches a height of , but individuals have been recorded. Stems are smooth and grey-brown to cinnamon-brown, and range from in diameter. Leaves are long, with short

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

s and leaf sheathes long which encircles the upper portion of the stem, forming a

crownshaft An elongated circumferential leaf base formation present on some species of palm is called a crownshaft. The leaf bases of some pinnate leaved palms (most notable being ''Roystonea regia'' or the royal palm but also including the genera ''Areca' ...

. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s bear creamy yellow male and female flowers; the

anther The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s of the male flowers are bright purple. The fruit is single-seeded, about long and wide. The greenish-yellow immature fruit turn brownish-purple as they ripen.

Taxonomy

''Roystonea'' is placed in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Arecoideae and the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Roystoneae. The placement of ''Roystonea'' within the Arecoideae is uncertain; a 2006

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...

based on

plastid A plastid is a membrane-bound organelle found in the Cell (biology), cells of plants, algae, and some other eukaryotic organisms. Plastids are considered to be intracellular endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. Examples of plastids include chloroplasts ...

DNA failed to resolve the position of the genus within the Arecoideae. As of 2008, there appeared to be no molecular phylogenetic studies of ''Roystonea'' and the relationship between ''R. borinquena'' and the rest of the genus is uncertain. The species was first described by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

botanist Orator F. Cook in 1901. For most of the 19th century, only two species of royal palms were generally recognized:

Greater Antillean The Greater Antilles is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, together with Navassa Island and the Cayman Islands. Seven island states share the region of the Greater Antille ...

royal palms were considered ''Oreodoxa regia'' (now ''

Roystonea regia ''Roystonea regia'', commonly known as the royal palm, Cuban royal palm, or Florida royal palm, is a species of Arecaceae, palm native to Mexico, the Caribbean, Florida, and parts of Central America. A large and attractive palm, it has been plan ...

''), while Lesser Antillean ones were considered ''O. oleracea'' ('' R. oleracea''). Due to problems with the way that the genus ''Oreodoxa'' had been applied by taxonomists, Cook proposed that the name ''

Roystonea ''Roystonea'' is a genus of eleven species of monoecious Arecaceae, palms, native to the Neotropical realm, Neotropics, in the Caribbean, the adjacent coasts of Florida in the United States, Mexico, Central America and northern South America. Co ...

'' (in honor of American general Roy Stone) in 1900 be applied to the royal palms. The following year Cook described ''Roystonea borinquena''.

Common names

''Roystonea borinquena'' is known as the "mountain-cabbage", "Puerto Rico royal palm" or simply "royal palm" in English, ''palmiste'' in

, ''palma real puertorriqueña'', ''manacla'', ''palma caruta'', ''palma de cerdos'', ''palma de grana'', ''palma de yagua'', ''palma real'', ''yagua'' and other names in

and the

Reproduction and growth

Young ''Roystonea borinquena'' trees may begin flowering when they are about seven years old, and they flower throughout the year. The flowers of ''Roystonea borinquena'' produce

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

and are visited by

honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to mainland Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the ...

s; and are thought to be insect-pollinated. Flowering individuals bear an average of 3.2 inflorescences per tree, and produce 6–12,000 fruit per inflorescence. Seeds germinate after 50–100 days. After six months, seedlings in full sunlight can reach a height of ; young trees can grow an average of per year.

Distribution

''Roystonea borinquena'' is native to

(including

Vieques Vieques (; ), officially Isla de Vieques, is an island, town and municipality of Puerto Rico, and together with Culebra, it is geographically part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques lies about east of the mainland of Puerto Rico, measuri ...

) and St. Croix, St. John and

Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...

in the

. In Hispaniola, ''R. borinquena'' is found at elevations below

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

, except in the driest regions. In Puerto Rico it is found in areas below above sea level, that receive of rainfall.

Ecology

''Roystonea borinquena'' fruit are a fat-rich food source for birds.

White-crowned pigeon The white-crowned pigeon (''Patagioenas leucocephala'') is a fruit and seed-eating species of bird in the dove and pigeon family Columbidae. It is found primarily in the Caribbean. John James Audubon painted these pigeons, including the waterco ...

s (''Patagioenas leucocephala'') have been reported to disperse the seeds of the species. The

Critically Endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

Ridgway's hawk Ridgway's hawk (''Buteo ridgwayi'') is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae endemic to the island of Hispaniola (both Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in the Caribbean. It is classified as Critically Endangered because of habitat destructio ...

(''Buteo ridgwayi''), endemic to Hispaniola, favours ''R. borinquena'' when nesting. Palmchats (''Dulus dominicus''), another Hispaniolan endemic, favour the tree when building their large communal nests.

Uses

Royal palms are popular

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

s due to their striking appearance; ''Roystonea borinquena'' is extensively planted as an ornamental in Puerto Rico. Its tolerance of

air pollution Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

, its ability to grow in a variety of soil types, and the fact that it roots do not damage sidewalks, increase its utility for landscaping and street planting. Its timber is occasionally used for construction but is susceptible to termite attack. Leaves are used as

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away fr ...

and the leaf sheaths can be laid flat and used to make the sides of buildings. Trunk bark has historically been used as clapboards called ''tablas (de palma)'' or ''planche (de yagua) ''for siding in the bohío houses indigenous to Hispaniola and Cuba. The fruit are also fed to

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

s and other

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q151210 borinquena Trees of the Caribbean Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN