Pronunciation: roy-STONE-ee-uh boar-en-KEEN-ya
Common Name: Puerto Rican Royal Palm
Roystonea borinquena is a fairly good palm for California with a nice, thick, ringed trunk and attractive, large green crownshaft. It looks a LOT like Roystonea regia, however, and can be very difficult to identify accurately unless flowering.
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Appearance and Biology
- Habit: solitary with a crown of 10-12 feather palms
- Height: 40'
- Trunk: single; up to 18" in diameter; tan, turning to grey; ringed (newest rings white, but fade to grey after a year or so)
- Crownshaft: 2'-3' tall; tapering towards leaves; deep lime-green to bluish-green; barely wider than trunk below, but tapering to narrower than trunk
- Spread: 18'-20'
- Leaf Description: pinnate; plumose; mostly above the horizontal; 10'-12' long; bright green
- Petiole/Leaf bases: 1' long; unarmed; un-split leaf bases
- Reproduction: monoecious
- Inflorescence: below crownshaft; 2'-3' long; many branched near trunk
- Fruit: spherical to slightly ovoid; 1/2" diameter; blackish brown when ripe
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Horticultural Characteristics
- Minimum Temp: 30F
- Drought Tolerance: moderate
- Dry Heat Tolerance: moderate to good
- Cool Tolerance: low to moderate
- Wind Tolerance: moderate
- Salt Tolerance: unknown
- Growth Rate: moderate to fast
- Soil Preference: adaptable
- Light Requirement: full sun
- Human Hazards: falling leaves can be heavy and damage plants and people below
- Disease or Horticultural Problems: none
- Transplants?: unknown
- Indoor?: unknown
- Availability: rare
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Escondido, California, Levine estate
Bradford garden, San Diego county, California
