Puerto Rican hat palm
| Sabal causiarum | |
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| Sabal causiarum at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, Florida, United States | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Arecales |
| Family: | Arecaceae |
| Genus: | Sabal |
| Species: | S. causiarum |
| Binomial name | |
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Sabal causiarum (O.F.Cook) Becc. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Inodes causiarum O.F.Cook |
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Inodes causiarum O.F.Cook
Inodes glauca Dammer
Sabal haitensis Becc. ex Martelli
Sabal questeliana L.H.Bailey
Sabal causiarum, commonly known as the hat palm, is a species of palm which is native to Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the United States Virgin Islands, 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 a fan palm with solitary, very stout stems, which grows up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall and 35–70 centimetres (14–28 in) in diameter. Plants have 20–30 leaves, each with 60–120 leaflets. The inflorescences, which are branched, arching or pendulous, and longer than the leaves, bear globose, black fruit. The fruit are 0.7–1.1 centimetres (0.3–0.4 in) in diameter; fruit size and shape are the main characteristics by which this species differs from Sabal domingensis.
Sabal is placed in the subfamily Coryphoideae and the tribe Sabaleae. As of 2008, there appear to be no molecular phylogenetic studies of Sabal and the relationship between S. causiarum and the rest of the genus is uncertain.
The species was first described by American botanist Orator F. Cook as Inodes causiarum in 1901. The specific epithet, causiarum means "of hats"; the Latin word referred to "a wide-brimmed Macedonian hat". Cook erected the genus Inodes to incorporate members of the genus Sabal with upright trunks and leaves with well-developed midribs. Italian naturalist Odoardo Beccari transferred the species to Sabal and coined the current binomial, S. causiarum.
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