Roystonea violacea

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Roystonea violacea

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Scientific Classification
Genus: Roystonea
Species: violacea
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
America
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Morphology
Habit: Solitary
Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
None.


Habitat and Distribution

Restricted to the Maisf region of the province of Guantánamo, Cuba, at 350-420 meters altitude.

Description

Trunk mauve-brown to mauve-gray, to 15 m tall, ca. 34 cm diam. Leaves ca. 15, lowest leaves hanging well below the horizontal; crownshaft ca. 2 m long; petiole ca. 80 cm long; rachis 3.2-3.6 m long; middle segments 95-104 cm long and 3.7-4 cm wide. Inflorescence ca. 1.3 m long and 1 m wide; prophyll 40-42 cm long and 12-13 cm wide, peduncular bract ca. 1.2 m long. widest above middle, apex acuminate; rachillae 17- 20 cm long and 1.4-2 mm diam. Staminate flowers violet, darker toward the base of the petals and filaments; sepals triangular, ca. 0.9 mm long and 1.2 mm wide; petals ovate, ca. 5.1 mm long and 2.9 mm wide; stamens 6, ca. 5.8 mm long; filaments awl-shaped, ca. 3.7 mm long; anthers ca. 3.7 mm long, purple; pistillode minute. Pistillate flowers violet, 2-2.5 per cm; sepals reniform, ca. 1.2 mm long and 3.3 mm wide; petals ovate, coriaceous, ca. 3 mm long; staminode shallowly 6-lobed, ca. 2.3 mm long, free for ca. 1.2 mm; gynoecium ca. 2.4 mm long and 2.5 mm diam. Fruits spheroid to ellipsoid, 12-13.7 mm long, 8.1-9 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 7.8-8.5 mm wide; epicarp brown to black, stigmatic scar plain; endocarp ellipsoid, fragile, 7.8-8.5 mm long, 5.9-6.6 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 6.2-6.5 mm wide; seed dorsiventrally compressed ellipsoid, 5.8-9.3 mm long, 4.3-5.3 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 5.3-6 mm wide; raphe circular. Eophyll linearlanceolate. exstipitate, weakly costatc. (Zona S.)

As mentioned above (see Roystonea maisiana), mixed materials in the type collection of R. violacea have hindered our understanding of this species. The above description draws heavily on collections made by the author in 1990 (Zona, 1991). The staminode, fruit, and seed illustrated by León (1943: pI. 1,) belong to R. maisiana, as does the fruit illustrated by Bailey (1949). Bailey's illustration of the flower appears to be correctly identified. Regrettably, botanical collections are still so incomplete that I cannot say if the prophylls illustrated by León (1943) in his plate 1, are properly identified. The specimen and seeds collected by J. M. Leiva in Imías and distributed under the number Zona & Leiva 396 were misidentified. Molecular analysis shows that this collection is not R. violacea; it appears to be nothing other than R. regia. (Zona S.)

Culture

Curiosities

Uses: Like all Cuban Roystonea, this species is used for timber, thatch, and hog feed.

External Links

References

Special thanks to Geoff Stein, (Palmbob) for his hundreds of photos, edric.


Many Special Thanks to Ed Vaile for his long hours of tireless editing and numerous contributions.

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