Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 



257 



Conspectus of the Species of Oreodoxa 



Male flowers having, when in bud, the stamens entirely enclosed in the corolla. 

 Fruit globular-ovoid, more or less gibbous, not more than one-third longer than 

 broad. 



1. Fruit 11 mm. long, 9 mm. broad. Pericarp on the whole 1-1.5 mm. thick; 



mesocarp grumose when dry. O. regia 



2. Fruit 13 mm. long, 10-10.5 mm. broad. Pericarp on the whole 1-1.5 mm. 



thick ; mesocarp grumose when dry. 0. charibaea 



3. Fruit 17 mm. long, 13 mm. broad. Pericarp on the whole about 3 mm. thick, 



subinflate, the mesocarp being very lax when dry and, apparently, very 

 juicy when fresh. O. princeps 



Male flowers having the petals open, and with the stamens protruding beyond 

 them long before the anthesis. Fruit oblong, more or less curved, nearly twice 

 as long as wide. 0. oleracea 



Oreodoxa regia Kunth in Humb. et Bonpl. 1. c. ; Mart. Hist. nat. Palm. Ill, 

 168, t. 156, f. Ill, IV, V; Griseb. Cat. pi. Cub. 222; Sauvalle Fl. Cub. 

 153; Combs, in Trans. Acad. St. Louis, VII (1897) 471, Becc. Reliq. 

 Scheff. in Ann. Jard. hot. Buit. II (1885) 147, t. 11; Sargent, Silva 

 N. A., X, 31, t. DV; Hemsley in Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 401. O. oleracea 

 (non. Mart) Griseb. PI. Wright, 531 et PI. Cub. Wright n. 1467, 



Roystonea regia O. F. Cook, 1. c. 531. 



I do not think it necessary to spend many words in describing the general 

 aspect of this j)alm, which is a favorite ornament in the tropical gardens of every 

 part of the world. I have, however, to remark that the bulging of its stem cannot 

 be absolutely taken as a specific character, witness Figure 110, which reproduces 

 the Royal Palm in the wild state, growing in Western Cuba, and Figure 111 taken 

 at Santiago de las Vegas. In both of these figures some individuals have stems 

 almost regularly cylindrical from base nearly to summit, while others have a more 

 or less fusiform appearance in the intermediate portion. 



The Royal Palm is a rather variable plant, not only as to the bulging of its 

 trunk, but also in regard to the shape, size, and small peculiarities of the fruit, 

 and to some other small characters. On this account it exhibits several forms, 

 difficult to define and apparently localized to the different regions where this palm 

 grows. This is the case with the Oreodoxa of Porto Rico, which has been dis- 

 tinguished as a species (0. charibaea) but which, I think, would be much better 

 considered as a simple variety. 



O. regia is a very widely diffused palm, as it is not only frequently met with 

 in the savannahs, and along streams and rivers in Cuba, especially in fertile soil, 

 but is naturally dispersed in almost all the other Antilles ; it is also found in 

 Panama, where Hemsley writes that it is common about Cruces, Gorgona and San 

 Juan. 



The Oreodoxa growing in Florida was identified by Prof. Sargent (i. c.) as 

 O. regia, but of this palm Mr. O. F. Cook has made an 0. floridana. 



