Palms

Calyptronoma rivalis, known as Palma de Manaca in its native home of Puerto Rico, is a riparian palm, meaning that it grows along stream banks and arroyos. It has pinnate leaves (with leaflets arranged on either side of the stem, in pairs opposite each other), and mature trees can reach heights of 30 to 40 feet.

The natural populations of Palma de Manaca are located within the moist limestone evergreen and semi-deciduous forests and the montane wet evergreen forest of the northern karst area of Puerto Rico, and areas of the Dominican Republic, where they are typically found growing in ravines and creeks.

In 1995, botanists revised the taxonomy of genus Calyptronoma, placing Calyptronoma quisqueyana in synonymy with Calyptronoma rivalis, which extended the range of this species to include Hispanola, where it is quite common.

This species, where it occurs in Puerto Rico, is considered “Threatened” and is protected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under The Endangered Species Act, primarily due to the deforestation and habitat modification that comes with housing development. The natural populations are located on privately owned lands threatened by housing development, making them hard to protect.

Additionally, bad management practices upstream (land clearing activities without erosion control measures adjacent to rivers and creeks) can exacerbate the effects of flash flooding on the species and threaten its survival.

There is one tree in this species being preserved at The Merwin Conservancy.

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Want to virtually “explore” the Merwin Palm Collection? Search through our archive of Palm Facts of the Week, featuring palms hand-planted by W.S Merwin. To search through the Online Merwin Palm Database, visit this link.

If you’re inspired to help The Merwin Conservancy preserve and care for the world-renowned Merwin Palm Collection into the future, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.

 

 

Palm flower stalks, known as inflorescences, arise within the leaf axils (a point on the main stem where the buds or shoots develop) for most species of palms, but in those species having a crownshaft, inflorescences emerge from the stem just below the base of the crownshaft.

Developing inflorescences are typically ensheathed within a protective bract called a prophyll. The primary stalk of the inflorescence is known as the peduncle, with the first- and second-order branches called the rachis and rachilla, respectively. Both male and female flowers occur on monoecious palms, while dioecious palms possess only male flowers or female flowers.

Palm fruits are botanically classified as drupes, having one or more stony seeds covered with a fleshy, mealy, or fibrous mesocarp (the “fruit”), protected by an exocarp (the “skin”), surrounding a thin superficial epicarp (a shell-like layer around the inner seed).  

To the left is an illustration of a cross section of the fruit (aka drupe) of a Cocos nucifera , commonly known as a coconut palm. The fruit of the coconut palm tree is the largest known palm fruit. The word “coconut” itself can also be confusing because the word “nut” is contained in the word. However, a coconut is not a true nut.

To explore a glossary of palm terms, visit here.

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Want to virtually “explore” the Merwin Palm Collection? Search through our archive of Palm Facts of the Week, featuring palms hand-planted by W.S Merwin. To search through the Online Merwin Palm Database, visit this link.

If you’re inspired to help The Merwin Conservancy preserve and care for the world-renowned Merwin Palm Collection into the future, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.

Roystonea oleracea, a royal palm native to islands in the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America. It is known as the “palmiste” in Trinidad and Tobago, “cabbage palm” in Barbados and chaguaramo or maparó in Venezuela.  In Colombia it is known as mapora in Spanish, mapórbot in Jitnu and mapoloboto in Sikuani. 

Roystonea oleracea is the tallest and “most majestic” royal palm,  reaching heights of 130 feet, growing in areas that are very wet for at least part of the year—coastal areas near the sea, and gallery forests in seasonally flooded savannas.

The fruit of this palm is an important component of the diet of orange-winged Amazon parrots and red-bellied macaws in Nariva Swamp, Trinidad and Tobago. 

In addition to native parrots, the Roystonea oleracea is a very useful tree for humans, as well. In addition to it being widely used as an ornamental tree in landscaping, the wood can be used for construction and has also been traditionally used to make musical instruments. The apical growth bud is cooked and eaten like a cabbage, and has a delicate flavor.The sap of young inflorescences can be fermented to produce alcohol.  An edible starch is obtained from the pith of the stem, however this kills the tree. 

There are eight of this species growing at The Merwin Conservancy on Maui.

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Want to “virtually explore” the Merwin Palm Collection? Search through our archive of Palm Facts of the Week, featuring palms hand-planted by W.S Merwin. To search through the Online Merwin Palm Database, visit this link.

If you’re inspired to help The Merwin Conservancy preserve and care for the world-renowned Merwin Palm Collection into the future, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.