Palo de escoba

The Essence

"Cryosophila nana is a small fan palm endemic to Mexico, growing on the Pacific slope from Chiapas north to Mazatlan in Sinaloa. It belongs to Cryosophila, the root spine palms, a genus of about ten species ranging from central Mexico to northern Colombia whose trunks are armed with downward-pointing spines that are actually modified roots. The plant is single-stemmed and evergreen, growing up to about 5 m tall on an unbranched stem 5-10 cm in diameter that is densely covered with root spines, topped by a crown of 6 to 13 glossy green fan leaves with narrow, flexible, arching segments. The globose fruit is about 12 mm across; its pulp is eaten locally and is reported to hold abundant juice of a sweet, penetrating flavour well suited to making palm wine. The leaves are harvested from the wild to make brooms, an echo of the Spanish name Palo de escoba, "broom stick". Although fairly common in the wild, the species remains practically unknown in cultivation. Many subpopulations have become scarce or disappeared at lower elevations as coastal dry forest is cleared, but the palm tolerates disturbance and occurs in several protected areas, and it was assessed as Least Concern in 2021."

Humboldt, Bonpland and Kunth described the plant in 1816 as Corypha nana. Blume coined the name Cryosophila for it in Rumphia 2: 53 (1838), and Plants of the World Online and IPNI give the accepted name as Cryosophila nana (Kunth) Blume. Other sources, including IUCN's 1998 assessment and Wikipedia, use the authority (Kunth) Blume ex Salomon, on the grounds that Blume did not validly publish the combination and that it was validated by Salomon in 1887. Plants of the World Online lists seven synonyms, among them Corypha nana, Copernicia nana, Acanthorhiza aculeata, Chamaerops mocinoi and Trithrinax aculeata, and records the species as introduced in Trinidad and Tobago. The species is legally protected in Mexico under NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010. Its 1998 IUCN assessment of Lower Risk/near threatened was superseded in 2022 by an assessment of Least Concern, so older pages elsewhere on the web still show Near Threatened.