Roystonea stellata

Roystonea stellata is an endemic to Cuba palm of the genus Roystonea. It is possibly extinct.

Features

The stems are gray-white and up to 15 m high. The exact shape of the blades is not known, the central leaf segments are 85 to 90 cm long and 4 to 4.8 cm wide. The inflorescence is about 95 cm long, its preamble, to 66 cm. The spathe is about 1.2 m long and has a pointed end. The side branches of the inflorescence are 23 to 27 cm long with a diameter of about 1.5 mm. The male flowers are white, their sepals triangular, about 1 mm long. The petals are oval to oblong, stamens as long as the crown. The stamens are commended shaped and 4 mm long, the anthers are 2 mm long. The female flowers are also white. Sepals are kidney-shaped, 1 to 1.5 mm long. The petals are oval and 3.5 mm long.

The fruits are ellipsoidal, 9.8 to 10.5 mm long. The exocarp is black. The scar left by the scar is star-shaped. This characteristic of the type characteristic was reflected in the Art epithet: stellata means gesternt. The seed is compressed dorsiventrally and 6.2 to 6.8 mm long.

Distribution and threat

Roystonea stellata is a Lokalendemit on the Yagruma terrace in the region Maisí, Guantánamo Province, Cuba. Their locations were transformed in the second half of the 20th century coffee plantations, the type could not be found during a search in 1990. It is classified by the IUCN as " critically endangered ".

Documents

• Scott Zona: Roystonea ( Arecaceae: Arecoideae ). Flora Neotropica, Volume 71, 1996, pp. 1-35. ( JSTOR )