A revision of Coccothrinax, Hemithrinax, Leucothrinax, Thrinax, and Zombia (Arecaceae)
Author
Henderson, Andrew
text
Phytotaxa
2023
2023-09-19
614
1
1
115
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.614.1.1
journal article
10.11646/phytotaxa.614.1.1
1179-3163
8389307
1.36.
Coccothrinax spirituana
Verdecia & Moya
in
Moya, Verdecia, García-Lahera & Martínez-Pentón (2017: 84)
.
Type
:—
CUBA
.
Provincia
Sancti Spíritus
,
Municipio Jatibonico
,
San Felipe
,
Arroyo Blanco
, 22˚04’09”
N 79
˚01’07”
W
,
200 m
,
2 July 2015
,
R
. Verdecia &
J
. García-Lahera
RV15
/06
(
holotype
HMC
n.v.
, isotype
HAC
n.v.
).
Plate 25
Stems
5.0 m long and 15.0 cm diameter, solitary.
Leaves
more or less deciduous or only leaf bases persisting on stem; leaf sheath fibers
0.8 mm
diameter, stout, woody, loosely woven, ± joined or briefly free at the apices; petioles
12.2 mm
diameter just below the apex; palmans
14.5 cm
long, relatively short, with the adaxial veins prominent and terminating in a slight raised ridge and distinct pulvinus; leaf blades not wedge-shaped; segments 34 per leaf, the middle ones 56.0 cm long and
3.1 cm
wide; segments not pendulous at the apices, giving the leaf a flat appearance; middle leaf segments relatively short and broad, abruptly narrowed (shoulder) toward the apex, otherwise parallel-sided, often strongly folded, stiff and leathery, the apices briefly splitting; middle leaf segment apices attenuate; leaf segments with a persistent, dense, whitish layer of wax adaxially, densely indumentose abaxially, with irregularly shaped, persistent, interlocking, fimbriate hairs, each one with a rounded, raised, light green to greenish-brown center, without transverse veinlets.
Inflorescences
curving, arching, or pendulous amongst the leaves, with few partial inflorescences; rachis bracts somewhat flattened, loosely sheathing, usually tomentose with a dense tuft of erect hairs at the apex; partial inflorescences 4; proximalmost rachillae straight, 9.0 cm long and
1.2 mm
diameter in fruit; rachillae not recorded at or near anthesis; stamens not recorded; fruit pedicels
2.1 mm
long;
fruits
8.0 mm long and
8.3 mm
diameter, color not recorded; fruit surfaces smooth or sometimes with projecting fibers; seed surfaces deeply lobed, the lobes running from base of seeds almost to apices.
Distribution and habitat:—
Cuba
(
Sancti Spíritus
) (
Fig. 17
) in xeromorphic, spiny woodland on serpentine at
200 m
elevation.
Taxonomic notes:—
As a preliminary species,
Coccothrinax spirituana
has a unique combination of qualitative character states and is recognized as a phylogenetic species. It is one of only three species (the others are
C. boschiana
and
C. torrida
) recorded as having the adaxial surface of the segments with a persistent, dense, whitish layer of wax adaxially. Apart from this it does not differ from
C. miraguama
.
Moya
et al.
(2017)
compared
C. spirituana
with
C. macroglossa
and considered it differed by several quantitative variables.According to the images in
Moya
et al.
(2017)
and
Craft (2017)
, the leaf sheath fibers could almost be scored as spine-like at the apex.