''Prestoea montana'' (Vernacular English: Sierran palm;''Prestoea acuminata (Willd.) H.E. Moore var. montana (Graham) A. Hend. & G. Galeano: Sierran palm.''
USDA. Natural Resources Conservation Service. Retrieved 5 September 2013. Vernacular Spanish: Palma de sierra''Bosques de Puerto Rico: Bosque Estatal de Toro Negro.''
Hojas de Nuestro Ambiente. July 2008. ublication/Issue: P-030Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. Retrieved 5 September 2013.) is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

in the family

Arecaceae The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

. It is considered a synonym of ''Prestoea acuminata'' var. ''montana''.

Description

with a thin and tall stipe and a uniform diameter, reaching heights of 45 feet.

Distribution

It is found throughout the

Greater Antilles The Greater Antilles ( es, Grandes Antillas or Antillas Mayores; french: Grandes Antilles; ht, Gwo Zantiy; jam, Grieta hAntiliiz) is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and ...

as well as the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...

of the Caribbean.

Habitat

Generally found in mountains of up to high. It grows in the forest of creeks in the mountains, and on the steep slopes of the highest peaks in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. It is also found in

Toro Negro State Forest Toro Negro State Forest (Spanish: ''Bosque Estatal de Toro Negro'') is one of the 21 forests that make up the public forests system in Puerto Rico. It is also Puerto Rico's highest cloud forest. It is in the Cordillera Central region of the is ...

, in the Puerto Rico Cordillera Central. According to studies in the Luquillo Mountains, this palm also is associated with landslides.

Uses

The fruit of Prestoea montana (Sierra Palm) is the favorite food of the

Puerto Rican parrot The Puerto Rican amazon (''Amazona vittata''), also known as the Puerto Rican parrot (Puerto Rican Spanish: ''cotorra puertorriqueña'') or ''iguaca'', is the only extant parrot endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico, and belongs to the Neo ...

Taxonomy

''Prestoea montana'' was described by (Graham) G.Nicholson and published in ''The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening'', . . . 3: 216. 1886. ;

Etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

: ''Prestoea'': generic name in honor of

Henry Prestoe Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

(1842–1923), English

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and traveler, who collected the plant in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

.
''montana'': from the Latin, meaning "from the mountain".Archibald William Smith

Gallery

File:Prestoea montana.jpg, P. montana forest in Toro Negro File:Prestoea montana 1.JPG, P. montana among trees, El Yunque File:Prestoea montana 3.JPG, P. montana on the banks of a creek, El Yunque File:Prestoea montana 4.jpg, Roots of P. montana in El Yunque

References

Bibliography

# Anonymous. 1986. List-Based Rec., Soil Conservation Service, U.S.D.A. Database of the U.S.D.A., Beltsville. # T. J. Killeen, E. García Estigarribia & S. G. Beck. (eds.) 1993. Guía Árb. Bolivia 1–958. Herbario Nacional de Bolivia & Missouri Botanical Garden. Editorial Quipus srl., La Paz, Bolivia. 1993.

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3402676

montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

Flora of the Caribbean Flora without expected TNC conservation status