Product Description
Habitat and Distribution
Roystonea regia is found in; Bahamas, Belize, Cayman Is., Cuba, Florida, Honduras, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Panamá (World Checklist of Monocotyledons) Abundantly distributed throughout the hillsides and valleys of Cuba and the hammocks of the Everglades in Collier, Dade, and Monroe Counties, Florida, U.S.A. Also present in the Yucatan Peninsula and Gulf Coastal Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. Indigenous populations also exist in the Cayman Islands. This species appears to be the palm found by Gillis et a1. (1975), in the Bahamas. This taxon is very commonly cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics and apparently naturalizes with ease. (Zona S.)/Palmweb.
Description
Trunk gray-white, to 20(-30) m tall, 37-57.5 cm in diam. Leaves about 15 in the crown, lowest leaves hanging below the horizontal; crownshaft about 2 m long; rachis about 4 m long; middle segments 63- 119 cm long and 2.5-4.6 cm wide. Inflorescence about 1 m long and 1 m wide; prophyll about 36 cm long and 7.3 cm wide; peduncular bract 0.8-1 .6 m long and 9.8-13 cm wide, widest at the middle, apex acuminate; rachillae 11-31 cm long and 0.9-2.3 mm in diam. Staminate flowers white; sepals triangular, 0.8-1.4 mm long and 0.9-2 mm wide; petals elliptical 10 ovate, 3.5-6.4 mm long and 2.2-3.5 mm wide; stamens 6-9, 3.2-7.5 mm long; filaments awl-shaped, 2.3-5.6 mm long; anthers 2.4-4.5 mm long; pistillode minute. Pistillate flowers white,2-4.5 per cm; sepals reniform, 0.7-1 .8 mm long and 1.8-3.4 mm wide; petals ovate, 2.7-3.7 mm long mm; gynoecium 1.1-3.5 mm long and 0.9-2.6 mm in diam. Fruits spheroid to ellipsoid, somewhat dorsiventrally compressed, 8.9-15.1 mm long, 6.9-11.2 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 7-10.9 mm wide; epicarp purplish black, stigmatic scar plain; endocarp ellipsoid, 7.5-11.1 mm long, 6-7.7 mm dorsi ventral thickness, and 5.8-7.9 mm wide; seed ellipsoid, somewhat dorsiventrally compressed, 5.5-9.7 mm long, 4-6.3 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 5.1-7.2 mm wide; raphe circular. Eophyll linear-lanceolate, 13.5-19 cm long and 1.3-1.5 cm wide, exstipitate, weakly costate. n = 18 (Sharma & Sarkar, 1957). (Zona S.)/Palmweb. Editing by
Culture
"We have some FL royals grown from wild collected seed. They don't show any less or more hardiness than R. regia. In fact several Roystonea we are growing have had the same hardiness; borinquena, "eleata", regia, princeps and violacea. R. oleracea is more tender." (Eric S., botanist; H.P. Leu Gardens, Orlando, FL.)
"If you have trouble keeping it green, water it more, and give it fertilizer with a lot of manganese potassium and definatley nitrogen. These palms love it, and unfortunatley, southern California does not really have the right soil for it, but there are great specimens there as you can see." (Kyle Wicomb)
The Royal Palms are not particular about soil. Light: High light requirements. Likes bright sunny conditions. Moisture: Royals like water and look their best when given adequate amounts. At home in cypress swamps, the Florida Royal Palm tolerates occasional flooding. Cold Hardiness Zone:9b. Well establihed survives 25 degrees F. -5 degrees C.
Comments and Curiosities
Uses: It is used in Cuba for timber, thatch, and hog feed. It is very popular as a cultivated ornamental. (Zona S.)/Palmweb.
In Peru the leaf is used in preparing a decoction, for Medicinal and Veterinary purposes, in treating the Nervous system and mental health, and also as a aid to treat the Digestive system.
