Entry for Coccothrinax argentata (Jacquin) L. H. Bailey [family PALMAE]
Entry From
Flora of North America, Vol 22,
Names
Coccothrinax argentata (Jacquin) L. H. Bailey [family PALMAE], Gentes Herb., 4: 223. 1939
Palma argentata Jacquin [family PALMAE], Fragm. Bot., 39, plate 43, fig. 1. 1801
Coccothrinax garberi (Chapman) Sargent [family PALMAE]
Coccothrinax jucunda Sargent [family PALMAE]
Thrinax argentea Loddiges ex Schultes & Schultes f. var. garberi (Chapman) Chapman [family PALMAE]
Thrinax garberi Chapman [family PALMAE]
Discussion
Palms of this species from Dade and Broward counties, Florida, are typically smaller in stature than those from the Florida Keys. It is not known if this dwarfism is purely the result of edaphic conditions or if it is a genetic trait.
Coccothrinax argentata is found in the Florida Keys and extreme southern Florida as far north as the vicinity of Boca Raton, Palm Beach County. It also occurs in the Bahamas. It is usually a small, single-trunked palm but occasionally develops multiple stems. It is most easily distinguished from Thrinax morrisii, with which it is sometimes confused in Florida, by the obscure transverse venation in the leaves and the purple-black fruits on long pedicels (versus conspicuous transverse venation and white fruits on short pedicels in T. morrisii).
This species has been reported (C. E. Nauman 1990) to produce sterile natural hybrids with Thrinax morrissii in the Florida Keys where the two species are sympatric.
