Roystonea
Read about Roystonea in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Oreodoxa (Greek, mountain glory"). Palmaceae. The royal palm, cabbage palm, and a very few others, from Florida to northern South America, comprising the finest species of palms in cultivation; pinnate- leaved, with tall columnar boles. The genus Oreodoxa, as formerly understood, has recently been divided, and the Florida and West Indian royal and cabbage palms have been separated as Roystonea and the name Oreodoxa has been reserved for South American species. This separation proceeds on the basis of the botanical distinctness of the two groups and also for nomenclatorial reasons. Oreodoxa was established by Willdenow in 1804 for 2 Venezuelan species, neither of which is congeneric with the VV. Indian royal palms. The type species, O. acuminata, Willd., is associated by some authors with Euterpe, bv others with (Enocarpus. (See O. F. Cook, Science if 12:479 (1900); Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 28:549 (1901), and 31:349 (1904); also Cook & Collins, Ec. PI. Porto Rico). Nevertheless, this disposition has not been accepted by other palm students, as Beccari, and Dammer & Urban; and until something like an agreement is reached (and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case), it is better for a cylcopedia of horticulture to hold to a conservative practice. For Beccari's recent treatment, see Pomona College Journ. Econ. Botany, May, 1912. As usually denned, and as understood by Mart-ills (not Willdenow), Oreodoxa comprises spineless palms, the solitary erect robust trunk cylindrical or swollen at the middle: Lvs. terminal, equally pinnatisect; segms. narrowly linear- lanceolate, narrowed at the apex, unequally bifid; midnerve rather thick, scaly beneath; margins not thickened, recurved at the base; rachis convex on the back, sulcate toward the base, and acute toward the apex above; petiole half-cylindrical, sulcate above; sheath long: spadix rather large, with long, slender, pendent branches; spathes 2, the lower broad, laterally carinate, shorter than the spadix, the upper complete semi-cylindrical, ventrally fissured: bracts and bractlets scaly: fls. small, white, in scattered glomerules: fr. obovoid or oblong-ovoid, small, violet; seed small, rounded, depressed, or obovate and somewhat curved, with sub-basal embryo and uniform albumen. The two well-known Oreodoxas are the royal palm (O. regia) and the cabbage palm (O. oleracea). Both are stately trees. While it is often difficult to distinguish immature specimens of the royal and cabbage palms, in age they are distinct. O. regia has staminate flowers which, in bud, entirely inclose the stamens, while in O. oleracea the stamens protrude before the flower opens. In the latter species, also, the fruit is nearly twice as long as wide, while in O. regia it is not more than a third longer than wide. The character of trunk swelling, usually applied as a distinguishing mark, is likely to break down in some wild plants. The royal palm is one of the grandest of pinnate palms, growing to a height of over 100 feet with immense plumy feathery leaves and a straight white trunk. It is a magnificent tree for extreme southern Florida for avenue planting, and is valuable in all sizes, but especially when 4 feet or over in height. The form of it native in Florida is by some regarded as a distinct species. The cabbage palm is cut down when three years old for the central leaves, which are tender and edible. In southern California, the royal palm lives for years but without attaining any size, and is therefore not accounted a success there. Because of the original error in assigning the West Indian royal palms to Oreodoxa of Martius, which itself is untenable, the names of these plants and their relatives are badly mixed.
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