Apak Palm, BRAHEA DULCIS

from the June 22, 2007 Newsletter issued from Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, QUERÉTARO, MÉXICO
APAK PALM
In the mountains near San Juan de Los Durán (elevation ~1400m (4600ft), ~N21.47°, ~W99.17°), another eye-catching plant in very dry, thin soil where white limestone outcropped on steeper slopes was the 10-ft-high fan-palm shown below:

*UPDATE: Later with access to more information it appears that only one species of Brahea is to be expected in Querétaro state, and trunkless Brahea moorei isn't one of them. The species commonly documented here is BRAHAE DULCIS, usually known as the Apak Palm. Earlier Brahae berlandieri was recognized but in 2024 Kew's Plants of the World Online database regards that name as synonymous with B. dulcis. PalmPedia.Net refers to B. dulcis as "Certainly the most confusing of the Braheas."

That's a Brahea, and there's only one Brahea listed for our region, which is BRAHEA MOOREI.* However, I can't find any reference to this species producing such a monumental trunk as the one shown in my picture. Pictures on the Internet usually portray trunkless plants, or ones with very short trunks, sometimes running along the ground.

Either the Braheas in this area are much older or for some reason more developed than the ones people elsewhere have seen, or it's a different species altogether. This makes my botanist blood gurgle, but I'm in no position to figure it all out.

Even here most specimens are trunkless or very short-trunked. However the occasional trunked plants such as the one in the picture manage to impart to the landscape a real exotic flavor.