Coccothrinax moaensis

In horticulture, this outstanding, medium-sized Coccothrinax unfortunately is largely unknown, perhaps for the lack of propagating material and its remote habitat. It is native only to a few localities in eastern Cuba in the region of Moa and Maguana, where it experiences a hot, humid climate and is confined to soils derived from serpentine rock. Such soils are very high in heavy metals (Moa is a nickel mining area) which are toxic to most plants and usually produce a stunted and very diverse vegetation with many species that are highly adapted and endemic. Many palm enthusiasts may also be familiar with this type of vegetation from New Caledonia, where many palms are confined to serpentine. Originally described in 1971 by botanists Attila Borhidi and Onaney Muñiz as Coccothrinax yuraguana ssp. moaensis, Muñiz decided later that the palm was different enough to deserve to be a species in its own right. It produces a slender, solitary trunk clothed in the wiry, tightly clasping fibers of the leaf sheaths. The leaves are quite unmistakable, flat, completely circular, to about 80 cm (30 in.) in diameter and deeply divided into about 20 thick, rigid, strongly V-shaped segments with rounded tips. Their deep divisions, almost to the base of the leafblade, few segments and their circular outline give them the appearance of pinwheels and make this palm a superb ornamental. In cultivation, it is slow to establish but not difficult and will succeed in all tropical and some warm temperate climates if sun and a freely draining substrate are provided.