Roystonea regia

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Photographs by: Dr. Maulik Gadani

Botanical Name : Roystonea regia (Kunth) O. F. Cook
Synonyms : Oreodoxa regia Kunth
Common Name : Bottle Palm, Royal Palm
Plant Family : Arecaceae (Palmae)
According to the Rules of ICBN the names of the families should end in -aceae. Thus the new name for the family Palmaebecame Arecaceae. However, the name Palmae is also exempted and conserved under 'Nomina Conservanda' because of their constant use for a long time.
Plant Form : Tree
Occurrence (Sectors) : 1, 11, 17, 28
Occurrence (Special Areas) : Gujarat Forestry Research Foundation, Indroda Park, Van Chetana Kendra, Infocity, Basan

About Roystonea regia Plant :

Habit : A talltree with trunk straight, smooth more or less swollen.
Leaves :
- Very large, leaf sheath elongate, tightly enveloping the vegetative cone.
- Leaflets firmly papyraceous, ensiform, quite straight and very gradually narrow above from below the middle, to a very acuminate, rather rigid, briefly bifid apex.
- Spathes 2, the exterior one tubular, pervious at its upper end, considerably shorter than the interior one.
Inflorescence : Spadices 3-4 at the same time, primary branches conspicuously swollen at their bases and divided into several alternate flowering branchlets, which are slender, terete, more or less sinous between the flowers.
Flowers :
- Male Flowers :
  - Considerably larger than the female, irregularly ovoid, obtuse, calyx very small with slightly imbricate, scarious, subpellucid, sub-deltoid, obtuse or acute, and more or less carinate sepals, petals considerably longer than the sepals, concave irregularly ovate-oblong or oblong-elliptical , bluntish or subacute, striately veined.
  - Stamens usually 6-7, occasionally 8-9, abut as long as the petals, anthers relatively large, slightly shorter than the filaments, filaments linear subulate at the apex, rudimentary ovary globose with 3 short acute stigmatic points.
- Female Flowers :
  - open a short time after the male, horizontal, sepals reniform, entire, smooth, slightly callous at the base, corolla four times as long as the calyx, staminodes forming a cup, lining the undivided part of the corolla, and crowned by 6 obtuse lobes, 3 of them peeping forth between the divisions of the corolla.
  - Ovary globose, usually uni-cellular, stigmas fleshy, triangular-subulate, recurved.
Fruit : Globose-obovoid, and somewhat gibbous. Seed broadly ovoid-elliptical, rounded at both ends.
Flowering and Fruiting Time : March onwards
Significance : This palm is popular in gardens and parks as an avenue tree.