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Sabal causiarum
Also called Puerto Rican Hat Palm, Puerto Rican Palmetto
In Singapore: Puerto Rico Hat Palm, Puerto Rican Hat Palm (Grown in Singapore)
Sabal causiarum is a stout, solitary fan palm native to Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands, grown as an ornamental or street tree in warm climates. It needs full warm tropical conditions and is best grown outdoors where frost does not occur.
Sabal causiarum, commonly known as the Puerto Rico palmetto or Puerto Rican hat palm, is a species of palm which is native to Hispaniola (in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico, and the British Virgin Islands. As its common and scientific names suggest, its leaves are used in the manufacture of "straw" hats.
Sabal causiarum is found on Hispaniola (in southwestern Haiti and the eastern Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico (including the islands of Mona and Culebra) and in the British Virgin Islands of Anegada, Tortola, and Guana between sea level and 100 metres (328 ft) above sea level. American botanist George Proctor also reported a sight record of the species from Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands, as well as specimens from Saint John; however, this has since been dismissed as introductions.
As is reflected in both the common and scientific names of the species, the leaves of Sabal causiarum are used in the manufacture of hats. In 1901 Orator F. Cook described a hat-making industry centred in the village of Joyuda in Cabo Rojo, which made "large quantities" of hats from the leaves of this species. According to Andrew Henderson, this industry had declined considerably by the 1980s. Leaves of the species are also used to make baskets, mats and hammocks, and older leaves for thatch.
Dwarf Palmetto · Cabbage Palmetto · Royal Palmetto · Sabal rosei · Sonoran Palmetto · Palmetto
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sabal causiarum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
