Prestoea montana

A palm with a thin and tall stipe and a uniform diameter, reaching heights of 45 feet.

It is found throughout the Greater Antilles as well as the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean.

Generally found in mountains of up to 1,300 feet (400 m) high.[7] It grows in the forest of creeks in the mountains, and on the steep slopes of the highest peaks in Puerto Rico. It is also found in Toro Negro State Forest, in the Puerto Rico Cordillera Central.[5] According to studies in the Luquillo Mountains, this palm also is associated with landslides.[8]

The fruit of Prestoea montana (Sierra Palm) is the favorite food of the Puerto Rican parrot.[9]

Prestoea montana was described by (Graham) G.Nicholson and published in The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening, . . . 3: 216. 1886.[10]

Etymology

Prestoea: generic name in honor of Henry Prestoe (1842–1923), English botanist and traveler, who collected the plant in Trinidad.[11]
montana: from the Latin, meaning "from the mountain".[12]

• 
  P. montana forest in Toro Negro
• 
  P. montana among trees, El Yunque
• 
  P. montana on the banks of a creek, El Yunque
• 
  Roots of P. montana in El Yunque

1. Anonymous. 1986. List-Based Rec., Soil Conservation Service, U.S.D.A. Database of the U.S.D.A., Beltsville.
2. T. J. Killeen, E. García Estigarribia & S. G. Beck. (eds.) 1993. Guía Árb. Bolivia 1–958. Herbario Nacional de Bolivia & Missouri Botanical Garden. Editorial Quipus srl., La Paz, Bolivia. 1993.