Follow us on FACEBOOK
Dominica Botanic Gardens
  • Home
  • About
    • Introduction to Website
    • A Brief History
    • Plan of Gardens
    • Contemporary Commentary
  • Botanic Gardens
    • Selected Trees and Shrubs
    • Medicinal Plants
    • Gardens Activities
    • Florida's Fairchild Garden
    • Parrot and Small Animal Sanctuary
    • Birds of the Gardens
    • Three Virtual Tours
    • Panoramic Views Today
    • Early Panoramic Views
    • Hurricane David's Ravages
    • Future Developments
    • Curators and Administrators
    • Reports and Documents
    • Getting Involved
    • Related Links
  • Hosted Sites
    • Honorees
    • Island Scholars
    • Cabinet Photos
    • Treasures of the Cathedral
    • Diaspora Policy Paper
  • DAAS
  • Contact

Selected Trees and Shrubs
Roystonea oleracea, Common name: West Indian Royal Palm, Royal Palm, Imperial Palm


​Description: Imposing, very stately, up to 30 m tall (100 ft), with light gray, erect, cylindrical trunk up to 22 m (70 ft); leaves in crown at top of stem, 3-5 m long (10-16 ft) with leaflets of about 1 m (3.25 ft) in two horizontal ranks; leafstalks, of about 1.5 m (5 ft), broaden to surround and sheath stem; flowers born in large-stalked panicles revealed when the leaf-sheaths beneath them drop off; abundant blue-violet fruit are small, obovoid, and without stalks; R. oleraceae not to be confused with R. regia; latter very similar with its dark red, but round fruit, and differs from R. oleraceae in having more fruit bunches concurrently; additionally, R. regia tends in younger trees to a more obvious swelling or thickening of the trunk at or near the middle, and so was used by the indigenous Indians for canoe building, hence one of its common names, Boat Palm; also, R. oleraceae has ascending leaves giving the crown a somewhat flat appearance, whereas R. regia has lower-drooping, more feathery leaves, in an almost globose crown.

Plant Family: Member of the Arecaceae or Palm family, called the West Indian Royal Palm, Royal Palm, Imperial Palm or Cabbage Palm; very similar to R. regia, the Cuban Royal Palm, also called Royal Palm, Boat Palm, and Bottle Palm; other family members include the Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera) and the Talipot or Century Palm (Corypha umbraculifera).

Habitat: Regions near sea level with moderate rainfall; in Dominica, apart from the Gardens, good examples can be seen at Mt Joy, Mero, and Springfield Estate.Origin and Distribution: Native to Trop. America, now found in most of the tropics and semi-tropics.

Uses: Arawaks used the hardwood to make lances and musical instruments.
​
References:
Dorothy Storer. Familiar Trees and Cultivated Plants of Jamaica. Macmillan, London 1964
Alan Eyre. The Botanic Gardens of Jamaica. Andre Deutsch, London 1966
Robert A. DeFilipps. Useful Plants of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1998
​​Gardens Introduction

​

Preface - How it Began
Introduction to Website
A Brief History
Plan of Gardens 
Contemporary Commentary​
​Trees, Shrubs, Birds

​
​
Selected Trees and Shrubs
Medicinal Plants
​
Gardens Activities
  Florida's Fairchild Garden
Parrot/Animal Sanctuary
Birds of the Gardens
Garden Views

​
​
Three Virtual Tours
Panoramic Views Today
Early Panoramic Views
 
Hurricane David's Ravages
Future Developments
Curators/Administrators
Reports and Documents
  
Getting Involved
Related Links
Sub-sites

​

Honorees
Island Scholars
Cabinet Photos
​​Treasures of the Cathedral

​Diaspora Policy Paper
​

Visit the DAAS  Website
Picture
HOME
Site by
CONTACT 
Picture

Copyright © -  Davison Shillingford, Clayton Shillingford and (the late) Raglan Riviere