Coccothrinax spirituana Verdecia & Moya

Henderson, Andrew, 2023, A revision of Coccothrinax, Hemithrinax, Leucothrinax, Thrinax, and Zombia (Arecaceae), Phytotaxa 614 (1), pp. 1-115 : 82

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.

Figures

FIGURE 17. Distribution of Coccothrinax samanensis, C. saxicola, C. scoparia, and C. spirituana.

PLATE 25. Coccothrinax spirituana, Cuba, leaf segments with a persistent, dense, whitish layer of wax adaxially. (Image by Raúl Verdecia Pérez).