Coccothrinax fagildei Borhidi & Muñiz (1985: 227)

1.13. Coccothrinax fagildei Borhidi & Muñiz (1985: 227) View in CoL . Type:— CUBA. Santiago de Cuba, oeste del Río Verraco , 25 April 1984, O . Muñiz , J . Fagilde & B . González 15021 ( holotype HAC n.v.)

Stems length not recorded, 5.3 cm diameter, clustered. Leaves more or less deciduous or only leaf bases persisting on stem; leaf sheath fibers 0.9(0.8–1.0) mm diameter, stout, woody, loosely woven, ± joined or briefly free at the apices; petioles 8.5(6.9–10.0) mm diameter just below the apex; palmans 6.0 cm long, relatively short, with the adaxial veins prominent and terminating in a slight raised ridge and distinct pulvinus; leaf blades wedge-shaped; segments 20(18– 22) per leaf, the middle ones 29.5(29.0–30.0) cm long and 2.1(1.9–2.3) cm wide; segments not pendulous at the apices, giving the leaf a flat appearance; middle leaf segments tapering from base to apex, often folded, stiff and leathery, with or without scarcely developed shoulders, the apices sharply pointed and 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; proximalmost rachillae straight, 4.7 cm long and 0.9 mm diameter in fruit; rachillae glabrous at or near anthesis; stamens 9; fruit pedicels 3.3 mm long; fruits 9.0 mm long and 9.0 mm diameter, color not recorded; fruit surfaces with projecting fibers; seed surfaces deeply lobed, the lobes running from base of seeds almost to apices.

Distribution and habitat:— Cuba ( Santiago de Cuba) ( Fig. 12 View FIGURE 12 ) in scrubby woodland on marine terraces and dog’s tooth limestone at 100 m elevation.

Taxonomic notes:— As a preliminary species, Coccothrinax fagildei has a unique combination of qualitative character states and is recognized as a phylogenetic species. It is notable for its clustered stems and wedge-shaped leaves. Moya (2021) reported that the type of C. fagildei is not present at HAC. The only other specimen ( Salzman 505) known is from the type locality. The abaxial surface of the segments of this specimen is unusual — it could almost be scored as C. argentata -like. Fruits have not been seen (fruit size is scored from the protologue) but are described in the protologue as covered with “puntos prominulos dense dispuestos ruguloso”.