Coccothrinax saxicola Leon 1939, n.v.
Creators: name: Henderson, Andrew
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Arecales
Arecaceae
Coccothrinax
Coccothrinax saxicola

description: 1.34. Coccothrinax saxicola León (1939: 141). Lectotype (designated by Moya 2020):— CUBA. (Oriente), Farallón del Dudoso, oeste de Pilón, 30 December 1938, Fr. León & M. Victorin 18618 (lectotype HAC!, isolectotypes A!, AJBC n.v., BH!, G n.v., HAJB!, MICH n.v., MICH image!, MT n.v., US!). Plate 23
Coccothrinax acunana León (1939: 128). Lectotype (designated by Moya 2020):— CUBA. (Oriente), Cueva del Aura, no lejos del Pico Turquino, 1,000 m, June 1935, J. Carabia & J. Acuña 16749 (lectotype HAC!, isolectotypes A!, BH!, MICH n.v., MICH image!, US!).
Coccothrinax elegans Muñiz & Borhidi (1981 publ. 1982: 442). Type:— CUBA. Oriente, Sierra Maestre, mogotes de la finca Demajagua, Matías, 23 October 1969, A. Borhidi & O. Muñiz 27933 (holotype HAC!, isotype BP n.v.).
Coccothrinax leonis Muñiz & Borhidi (1981 publ. 1982: 443). Type:— CUBA. Guantánamo, al pie de Guaso, October 1939, Fr. León 17362 (holotype HAC!).
Stems 3.5 m long and 5.0 cm diameter, solitary. Leaves more or less deciduous or only leaf bases persisting on stem; leaf sheath fibers 1.4(1.2–1.7) mm diameter, stout, woody, loosely woven, ± joined or briefly free at the apices; petioles 9.5(6.0–12.7) mm diameter just below the apex; palmans 10.6(4.6–18.0) 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 30(22–42) per leaf, the middle ones 46.3(31.0–62.5) cm long and 2.6(2.0–3.4) 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 not waxy or sometimes with a deciduous, thin 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 or reddish-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 3–4; proximalmost rachillae straight, 6.0(2.5–7.3) cm long and 1.0(0.7–1.4) mm diameter in fruit; rachillae glabrous at or near anthesis; stamens 7; fruit pedicels 1.1(0.1–2.8) mm long; fruits 4.8(4.0–5.4) mm long and 4.8(4.0–5.7) mm diameter, color not recorded; fruit surfaces smooth or sometimes with projecting fibers; seed surfaces lobed, the lobes running from base of seeds approximately to equator.
Distribution and habitat:— Cuba (Granma, Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba) (Fig. 17) on mogotes, coastal cliffs, or rocky places at 1,000 m elevation. Only one specimen gives elevation data, but others are reported occur on coastal cliffs, presumably at lower elevations.
Taxonomic notes:— Four preliminary species (C. acunana, C. elegans, C. leonis, C. saxicola) share a unique combination of character states and are recognized as a single, phylogenetic species, for which the name C. saxicola is here chosen. This occurs in southeastern Cuba in scattered localities and in diverse habitats, often in small populations. There are too few specimens to test quantitative differences.
As a preliminary species, Coccothrinax saxicola was placed by León (1939) in his section Curvatae, presumably based on the large inflorescence with somewhat distant partial inflorescences. However, it does not appear related to other species he included there. Of the three specimens cited by León, one (León 18618) has a small leaf and short pedicels, and another (León 16347) has a much larger leaf and longer pedicels. Nauman & Sanders (1991b) scored C. saxicola as having the leaf outline less than 1/2 orbicular (i.e. wedge-shaped) but this does not appear to be the case according to the illustrations in Craft (2017) and Moya (2020). Stems are scored from the image in León (1939).
Coccothrinax acunana was distinguished by León (1939) from the only other species (C. muricata) in his series Brevispadicae subseries Cernuae having leaves non-indumentose abaxially by its more numerous leaf segments, united filaments, and shorter style. These are not here considered to have any taxonomic significance. Suárez et al. (2018) described the leaves as having a thin layer of indumentum abaxially, and this is confirmed by study of the type specimen.
Muñiz & Borhidi (1981) compared C. elegans with C. muricata (i.e., C. salvatoris), to which it does not appear closely related.
Muñiz & Borhidi (1981) compared C. leonis with C. miraguama but considered it differed by its lack of centers in the hairs on the abaxial leaf surface and non-pedicellate fruits. However, the abaxial indumentum of the two specimens examined appears exactly like that of C. miraguama. Only one specimen has an inflorescence and this has short pedicels. Fruits are illustrated in Craft (2017) and described as having “raised bumps and ridges”.
description: Published as part of Henderson, Andrew, 2023, A revision of Coccothrinax, Hemithrinax, Leucothrinax, Thrinax, and Zombia (Arecaceae), pp. 1-115 in Phytotaxa 614 (1) on pages 78-80, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.614.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8389307