FNPS Plant Database

Roystonea regia

royal palm

PHOTOS COMING SOON!

Nomenclature

Common Name:

royal palm

Synonym(s):

Genus species:

Roystonea regia

Family:

Arecaceae (Palmae)

Plant Specifics

Form:

tree

Size:

50-100 ft tall by 15-30 ft wide

Life Span:

Long-lived perennial

Flower Color:

yellow,NA

Fruit Color:

NA

Phenology:

Evergreen. Life span 100+ years (Nelson 2003).

Noted For:

Showy Flowers, Hurricane Wind Resistance, Interesting Foliage, Interesting Bark

Landscaping

Recommended Uses:

Specimen plant or street tree.

Considerations:

This is a tall palm, make sure it has room to grow.

Availability:

Quality Nurseries, Native Nurseries

Propagation:

Seed.

Light:

Full Sun, Part Sun

Moisture Tolerance:

Always Flooded------------------------------------------------Extremely Dry

Coming Soon!

Usually moist, occasional inundation ---to--- Not wet but not extremely dry

Salt Water Flooding Tolerance:

Unknown

Salt Spray/Salty Soil Tolerance:

Some tolerance to salty wind but not direct salt spray

Soil or Other Substrate:

Sand, Loam

Soil pH:

acidic to neutral

Suitable to Grow In:

10A,10B,11

USDA zones are based on the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature.



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Ecology

Wildlife:

Caterpillars, Birds, Mammals

Larval host for monk skipper (Minno & Minno 1999)

Various birds and other wildlife eat the fruit.

Native Habitats:

Tropical rockland hammock, Everglades tree islands.

Natural Range in Florida:

Comments:

Ethnobotany:

General Comments:

Old fronds can be extremely heavy and are known to damage buildings when they fall (Haele and Brookwell 1999), so save the palm by not planting it overly close to a building.

Citations:

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/st574#:~:text=Royal palms are moderately tolerant,tolerant once they become established.



Haehle, Robert G. and Joan Brookwell.  1999.  Native Florida Plants.  Gulf Publishing Company.  Houston, TX.



Minno, Marc and Maria Minno.  1999.  Florida butterfly gardening.  University Press of Florida, Gainesville.



Nelson, Gil.  2003.  Florida's Best Landscape Plants. Association of Florida Native Nurseries.



Osorio, Rufino. 2001. A gardener's guide to Florida's native Plants.  University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL.



Wunderlin, R. P., B. F. Hansen, A. R. Franck, and F. B. Essig. 2021. Atlas of Florida Plants ( https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/ ).  Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa.

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