Roystonea oleracea (N. Jacquin) O. F. Cook, Arecaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Low risk, score: -3 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Areca oleracea Jacq.; Roystonea venezuelana L.H. Bailey

Common name(s): [more details]

English: cabbage palm, Caribbean royal palm, imperial palm, royal palm, South American royal palm

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Trunk gray, to 40 m tall , 46-66 cm in diameter.  Leaves 20-22, lowest leaves held at or above horizontal; crowns haft ca. 2 m long; petiole 60-100 cm long, rachis 4-4.6 m long; middle segments 65-94 cm long and 3-4.9 cm wide. Inflorescence ca. 1.4 m long and 0.7 m wide; prophyll 46.5-53 cm long and 8.8-16 cm wide; peduncular bract ca. 1.5 m long, widest above 23 the middle, apex caudate; rachillae 16-30 cm long and 1.5-2.8 mm in diameter. Staminate flowers white; sepals triangular, 1.4-1.7 mm long and 1.6-2.6 mm wide; petals elliptical to ovate, 3-4.8 mm long and 1.4-2.7 mm wide; stamens 6-8, 4.4-8.8 mm long; filaments awl-shaped, 3-6.9 mm long; anthers 3.5-4.7 mm long, apices recurved; pistillode minute. Pistillate flowers white, 2.5-4.5 per cm; sepals reniform, 1.5-1.8 mm long and 3.3-4.3 mm wide; petals ovate, 2.6-3.4 mm long; staminode 6-lobed, 1.8-2.5 mm long, free for 0.9-1.2 mm; gynoecium 1.8-2.9 mm long and 1.6-2.5 mm in diameter. Fruit ellipsoid, gibbous, 12.6-17.6 mm long, 8.2-10.8 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 7.6-10.4 mm wide; epicarp purplish black, stigmatic scar plain; endocarp ellipsoid, 9.8-13.7 mm long, 6.8-7.7 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 6.8-7.7 mm wide; seed ellipsoid, 7.5-10.5 mm long, 4.6-6.1 mm dorsiventral thickness, and 5.1-6.8 mm wide; raphe circular. Eophyll linear-elliptical, short- or exstipitate, weakly costate"  (Zona, 1996, in Palmweb). 

"To 100 ft. or more, trunk swollen at base, then cylindrical; leaves to 20 ft. long, ascending or spreading, forming a crown usually appearing nearly flat on lower side, pinnae in 1 plane near base and apex of leaf, but usually in 2 planes at middle of leaf in mature individuals; inflorescence with undulate rachillae; male flowers 1/4 in. long, stamens 6, filaments usually exceeding the petals and anthers much exserted; fruit oblong-ellipsoid, blackish at maturity, to 3/4 in. long, 3/8 in in diameter" (Bailey & Bailey, 1976; p. 984).

Habitat/ecology:  (no habitat/ecology info known by PIER)

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Barbados; Dominica; Guadeloupe; Martinique; Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Colombia (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Federated States of Micronesia Pohnpei Islands	Pohnpei Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (pp. 87-88)
Federated States of Micronesia Pohnpei Islands	Pohnpei Island	introduced cultivated	Herrera, Katherine/Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy/Balick, Michael J. (2010) (p. 38)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 409)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Hiva Oa Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 112) Voucher cited: MacKee 39823 Spontané
Palau Palau (main island group)	Palau Islands (main island group)	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (pp. 87-88)
Palau Palau (main island group)	Palau Islands (main island group)	introduced	Lorence, David H./Flynn, Tim (2010) (p. 8)
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	Solomon Islands	introduced cultivated	Shine, C./Reaser, J. K./Gutierrez, A. T., eds. (2003) (p. 166) As Roystonea venezuelana. Potential invader.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	Hong Kong	introduced cultivated	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 296)
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 75) Cultivated only

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive	Meyer, Jean-Yves/Lavergne, Christophe/Hodel, Donald R. (2008) (p. 76) Locally naturalized.
Mauritius Mautitius Islands (Mauritius and Rodrigues)	Mauritius Island	introduced cultivated	Meyer, Jean-Yves/Lavergne, Christophe/Hodel, Donald R. (2008) (p. 76)

Comments:  Reported to be a potential invader in the Solomon Islands (Wairiu & Wagatora, 2002). Reported to be invasive in French Guinea (Rejmánek, 1996).

Additional information:
Additional online information about Roystonea oleracea is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Roystonea oleracea as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Roystonea oleracea may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bailey, L. H./Bailey, E. Z. 1976. Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan, New York. 1290 pp.

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1987. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian monocotyledonae. Micronesica 20:1-126.

Herrera, Katherine/Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy/Balick, Michael J. 2010. Checklist of the vascular plants of Pohnpei with local names and uses. Allertonia, in press. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Hawai‘i. 146 pp.

Lorence, David H./Flynn, Tim. 2010. Checklist of the plants of Palau. Unpublished checklist. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Hawai‘i. 44 pp.

Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. 2008. Flora of the Marquesas Islands. National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution. Online database.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Meyer, Jean-Yves/Lavergne, Christophe/Hodel, Donald R. 2008. Time Bombs in Gardens: Invasive Ornamental Palms in Tropical Islands, with Emphasis on French Polynesia (Pacific Ocean) and the Mascarenes (Indian Ocean). Palms; Journal of the International Palm Society 52: 23-35. .

Palmweb. 2012. Palmweb: Palms of the World Online.

Rejmánek, M. 1996. Species richness and resistance to invasions. In: Orians, G., R. Dirzo and J. H. Cushman (eds.). Biodiversity and ecosystem processes in tropical forests. Springer-Verlag. pp. 153-172.

Shine, C./Reaser, J. K./Gutierrez, A. T., eds. 2003. Invasive alien species in the Austral-Pacific Region: National Reports & Directory of Resources. Global Invasive Species Programme, Cape Town, South Africa. 185 pp.

Smith, Albert C. 1979. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 1. 494 pp.

Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral/Imada, Clyde T. 2000. Survey of invasive or potentially invasive cultivated plants in Hawai‘i. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers No. 65. 35 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.