Puerto Rico Hat Palm

Description

Sabal causiarum, commonly known as the Puerto Rico palmetto or Puerto Rican hat palm, is a species of palm which is native to Hispaniola (in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico, and the British Virgin Islands. As its common and scientific names suggest, its leaves are used in the manufacture of "straw" hats. Sabal causiarum is a fan palm with solitary, very stout stems, which grows up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall and 35–70 centimetres (14–28 in) in diameter. Plants have 20–30 leaves, each with 60–120 leaflets. The inflorescences, which are branched, arching or pendulous, and longer than the leaves, bear globose, black fruit. The fruit are 0.7–1.1 centimetres (0.3–0.4 in) in diameter; fruit size and shape are the main characteristics by which this species differs from Sabal domingensis. Sabal is placed in the subfamily Coryphoideae and the tribe Sabaleae. As of 2008, there appear to be no molecular phylogenetic studies of Sabal and the relationship between S. causiarum and the rest of the genus is uncertain. The species was first described by American botanist Orator F. Cook as Inodes causiarum in 1901. The specific epithet, causiarum means "of hats"; the Latin word referred to "a wide-brimmed Macedonian hat". Cook erected the genus Inodes to incorporate members of the genus Sabal with upright trunks and leaves with well-developed midribs. Italian naturalist Odoardo Beccari transferred the species to Sabal and coined the current binomial, S. causiarum. In 1903, German botanist Carl Lebrecht Udo Dammer described Inodes glauca, based on collections made near Peñuelas in Puerto Rico by Paul Sintenis. In 1931 Odoardo Beccari described Sabal haitensis based on collections made in Haiti. American botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey described Sabal questeliana in 1944, based on collections from Saint Barthélemy. All of these species are considered to be synonyms of S. causiarum. Andrew Henderson and colleagues noted that Sabal causiarum, S. domingensis and S. maritima form a species complex that may constitute a single species.