Copernicia hospita – Cuban Wax Palm

Description

Copernicia hospita is a solitary fan palm characterized by exceptionally stiff, circular palmate leaves that exhibit a striking silver blue or highly glaucous waxy coating on both surfaces. In its juvenile stage, the stout trunk typically retains a dense skirt of persistent dead fronds, which eventually fall away to reveal a relatively smooth, grey, columnar stem. As a monoecious species, it produces long, heavily branched inflorescences that frequently extend beyond the leaf crown, yielding thousands of small, spherical fruits that ripen to a dark purple or black.

Endemic to the dry savannas and open woodlands of Cuba, this species thrives in porous soils poor in nutrients, including specialized serpentine substrates. Cultivation demands full, direct sunlight from an early stage and exceptional soil drainage. It is biologically adapted to endure intense heat and prolonged seasonal drought. Landscapers specify it as a highly architectural, drought tolerant structural element for warm temperate and subtropical xeriscapes, provided the planting site does not suffer from heavy, waterlogged clay.

-Very healthy plants and actively growing.

-Size varies but you get the same plants you see in the photos.

-Plants in 2-liter pots and shipped in them.