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(Last Modified On 10/24/2012)
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(Last Modified On 10/24/2012)
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Genus
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ROYSTONEA Cook.
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Common
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Royal Palm
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PlaceOfPublication
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Science, ser. 2, 12:479, in-note. 1900
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Reference
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Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 28:549. 1901.
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Synonym
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Oreodoxa Kunth in HBK. Nov. Gen. et Spec. 1, quarto ed.:305; and folio ed. 1:244. 1815; not Willd. Gorgasia Cook, in Nat. Hort. Mag. 18:112. 1939.
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Description
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Very tall majestic columnar monoecious spineless feather palms, bearing a long crownshaft- at apex of woody bole and at the base of it clusters of flowers and fruits, that is inflorescence and infructescence infrafoliar; trunk variously swollen, lightly ringed: leaves caducous from base of crownshaft; crown comprised of a large spreading or drooping canopy of many long leaves with drooping narrow pinnae and at the apex a long projecting sword-like unfolded new leaf: spadices at first erect or ascending, usually 2 or more together, comprised of 2 cymbae or spathes that eventually open on one side to liberate the cluster and to discharge the abundant meal (not pollen) within, one cymba falling early and often not ob- served, the inner much longer pointed cymba falling later with a crash or often hanging as a dead dry stave; spadix much branched, white, mealy, eventually be- coming glabrous or retaining more or less pubescence: flowers scattered on the rachillae, not sunken, normally 1 pistillate between 2 staminates; sepals 3, very short, imbricate; petals longer, valvate; stamens mostly 6; pistil of 3 carpels, only 1 of which commonly develops into a globular or bean-like drupe-like 1-seeded fruit not exceeding about 2 cm. in longest diameter, the more or less pulpy sarco- carp providing food for pigs; micropyle and embryo basal.
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Distribution
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Six or seven species in the West Indies, one of them also in southern Florida.
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Note
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None is known to be native in Panama but the trees are much planted and tend to be spontaneous, and Humboldt attributed his species (regia) to Panama but apparently Oenocarpus panawnanus was mistaken for it. The Roystoneas are much planted in tropical countries around the world.
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Key
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a. Pinnae on full-grown mature leaves in a single row or line either side the rachis, at least on the central or main parts of the leaf: fruit distinctly oblong and bean-like: crown of well-grown mature separate trees horizontal on the bottom or under side, very little if at all drooping so that the flower-clusters stand free against the sky -1. R. OLERACEA aa. Pinnae noticeably in two rows either side the rachis and the leaf there- fore with a tousled look: fruit globular or short-pyriform: crown with drooping base, covering the clusters --- 2. R. REGIA
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