Roystonea stellata

Roystonea stellata is an extinct species of palm endemic to Yagruma terrace in the Maisí region of Guantánamo Province in eastern Cuba. The species is known from only a single collection made by French-born botanist Frère León in 1939.

Roystonea stellata
Conservation status
Extinct (1939)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Genus:	Roystonea
Species:	†R. stellata
Binomial name
†Roystonea stellata León

Description

Roystonea stellata was a large palm which reached heights of 15 metres (49 ft). The 95 cm (3.12 ft) inflorescences bears white male and female flowers. Fruit were 9.8–10.5 millimetres (0.39–0.41 in) long and 7.8–8.5 mm (0.31–0.33 in) wide, and black when ripe. The single known collection is not complete enough for a complete description.^[2]

Status

No specimens have been found in repeated surveys of its habitat since the 1990s, and thus R. stellata is probably extinct.^[3]