10 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



THE ROYAL PALM AND ITS USES 



The I'oyal palm (Onoiloxd rcgid) is one of tin- most couspicvioiis features of the Cuban 

 landscajje and is well known to every traveler in tropical America. It is known also as palma 

 maxima and palmeto royal, which are names it has probably received on account of its great 

 height and the beauty of its graceful wavy foliage. It is a truly magnificent tree with a straight 

 and almost cylindrical trunk, often attaining a height of 80 to 90 or sometimes over 100 feet. 

 The trunk is rarely over 18 inches in diameter, but it diminishes very little as it ascends. 



The royal palm occurs everywhere on the island of Cuba except among the pines, which 

 are found chiefly on the higher and well-drained areas. It is abundant, especially in the moist, 

 rich soil so well suited to the cultivation of tolxicco. The vast majority of royal jjalms now in 

 existence, especially in western Cuba, stand on land which was cultivated at one time or 

 another and later abandoned . In such locations the palms were able to secure a foothold before 

 the competition of other plants became too strong. This tree is distributed throughout the 

 other islands of the West Indies and in many parts of the mainland. It is particularly abundant 

 in the low sandy tracts of land near the sea coast of Central America and southward to Brazil. 

 It grows in a few isolated areas in extreme southern Florida, and has now l)een i:)lanted very 

 extensively for ornamental purposes throughout its entire range of growth. 



The loyal ptiliii kiows with 



<nr\\ reniarkalilc I'fKukuily thai it i.s oiu' 

 I r-ees for avenue plantiiiK- 



)f the pritu'ipal 



It is safe to say that the royal palm is not only the most common palm in the West Indies, 

 but it is at the same time the most useful. The woody portion of the tree is only from two 

 to three inches in depth; it is of a dark color, and extremely hard and dense. Withm this is a 

 rather white pith with numerous small longitudinal strands of fibrous woody tissues. The 

 color of the bark resembles that of ash and is more or less conspicuously marked by the circular 

 scars of fallen leaves. The appearance of the bark continues the same to within 20 or 30 feet 

 fr m the ioyi of the tree, where it changes to a beautiful deep sea green, which color prevails to 

 the top. 



