''Roystonea altissima'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 ...

which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to hillsides and

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

slopes near the interior of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. The name ''altissima'' is Latin for "highest", however they are not the tallest species in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Roystonea ''Roystonea'' is a genus of eleven species of monoecious palms, native to the Caribbean Islands, and the adjacent coasts of the United States (Florida), Central America and northern South America. Commonly known as the royal palms, the genus ...

''. They are usually found just over sea-level to in elevation.

Description

''Roystonea altissima'' is a large palm which reaches heights of . Stems are grey-brown and range from in diameter. The upper portion of the stem is encircled by leaf sheaths, forming a green portion known as the

crownshaft An elongated circumferential leaf base formation present on some species of palm is called a crownshaft. The leaf bases of some pinnate leaved palms (most notable being ''Roystonea regia'' or the royal palm but also including the genera ''Areca' ...

which is normally long. Individuals have about 15 leaves with

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the grc, ῥάχις [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this c ...

es; the leaves hang well horizontal. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

s bear violet male and female flowers. Fruit are long and wide, and are black when ripe.

Taxonomy

''Roystonea'' is placed in the subfamily Arecoideae and the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

Roystoneae. The placement ''Roystonea'' within the Arecoideae is uncertain; a

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spe ...

based on plastid DNA failed to resolve the position of the genus within the Arecoideae. As of 2008, there appear to be no molecular phylogenetic studies of ''Roystonea'' and the relationship between ''R. altissima'' and the rest of the genus is uncertain. The species was first described by Scottish botanist

Philip Miller Philip Miller FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ''The Gardeners Dicti ...

as ''Palma altissima''. The species was largely overlooked for the next 180 years until American botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey took a look at the royal palms as a whole. Apparently unaware of Miller's description, Bailey applied a new name, ''Roystonea jamaicana'', to the species. In 1963

Harold E. Moore Harold Emery Moore, Jr. (July 7, 1917 – October 27, 1980) was an American botanist especially known for his work on the systematics of the palm family. He served as Director of the L. H. Bailey Hortorium at Cornell University, and was appoint ...

synonymised Bailey's species with Miller's and proposed a new combination, ''R. altissima''.

Common names

''Roystonea altissima'' is known as the "Jamaican cabbage tree", "Jamaican royal palm" or the "mountain cabbage palm".

References

Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms. Portland: Timber Press. / (Page 441-442) {{Taxonbar, from=Q151191 Trees of Jamaica altissima