Pics from my trip to Cuba

No, they don't ban nobody. As far as I know it's the USA goverment that doesn't allow american citizens to visit Cuba.

oh.... ok... well i think thats dumb, but there probably is a good reason.... or not....

I could go on about how dumb it is...but it would start getting political.

oh yeah.... And then the admins would drop in and say " no, no!" and and add a smiley to the end to make us not get mad at them for ruining our friendly conversation.


I know they do it for a good reason.... Its just annoying. Ok... Back to the beautiful palms we aren't supposed to see

In this photo http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5470503 you have the West Indian Sabal, the Florida Sabal keeps the frond base on the trunk to shield it from wild fires we have here. No wildfires in the W.Indies. Don't know the botanical names, too many Sabal palms and they cross pollinate each other here.

This one http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5470507 is most likely Bottle Palm, Hyophorbe lagenicaulis, widely grown in Fl and Cuba. We also grow Spindle Palm and when they are young the are hard to tell apart.

This one http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5470582 We call Queen Sago or Cycas circinalis. It might also be Cycas rumphii, need a real expert for that one.

This one http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5470595 is known as the Everglades Palm or Acoelorrhaphe wrightii. You have to prune it ever two weeks to keep it from turning into a mass of fronds with no visible trunks. Deep shade keeps it from getting too thick.

Nice photos. I am looking forward to seeing the Botanical Garden.

Cuba is so close to Tampa, but, impossible to get too. Bismarkia in Tampa>

Thanks for the info and the id's Dale!

Thanks for sharing.

The first two are C. revolutas. The third is Microcycas calocoma. A Cuban native and one of the nicest cycads in my opinion. Almost impossible to find here in the states, but becoming available as small seedlings lately.

I just found some more pics that you may find nice.

This is a typical cuban patio, colonial style (this is actually the Palacio De Los Capitanes Generales, an incredibly beautiful building where the Spanish governor had his headquarters during the colonial era, now a museum), with lush tropical vegetation and a very tall royal palm in the middle.

This uknown (to me) palm is growin virtually on a rock, in the Vedado district of Havana.

Another cycad, growing next to our hotel's restaurant. Is it the same as the big one I've posted above?

Yet another cycad (this looks a lot like the big one - Microcycas calocoma?).

An impressively tall coconut palm (over 50' tall) among almost equally tall roystoneas.

The roystonea of the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, photographed from the first floor of the building.

Among the tallest royals (actually, among the tallest palms) that I've ever seen are the ones that grow in front of the Capitolio of Havana. I took this picture from the first floor of the buliding, which is (the building) elevated about 20 ft from the street level and you have to go up some 10-15 stairs just to get to the "ground floor". So, in this pic I was standing at least 35-40 ft. from the ground where the palms grow. That means that these roystoneas may be around 80-90ft tall or more...

It is hard to tell from the picture, but it might be Microcycas calocoma. This is one of the easiest cycads to identify as it has the truncated leaves. Which you can see in the first one I identified. But this one I see a few, but most look like C. rumphii. Plus I do not think Microcycas calocoma suckers so profuse.

The other cycad by the hotel looks like Lepidozamia peroffskyana. But again, hard to tell.

The Palm on the cliff is Coccothrinax argentata or one very similar which there are a few.

This message was edited Aug 27, 2008 10:53 AM

Beautiful pictures!

You can go to Cuba by traveling to Merida, Yucatan, Mexico (or any larger city in Mexico, basically, just that I have personal experience with Merida), taking either a plane or boat to Havana, and ask the Immigration official to NOT stamp your passport, so you will not have an issue with US Customs and Immigration officials. They are accustomed to foregoing the stamp, and are happy to have our dollars - such as they are . . .

Last cycad is probably a Cycas sp... one before it is probably Lepidozamia hopei

Jungleman, cuban officials NEVER stamp your passport (no need to ask them) precisely because they know that this could cause problems to visitors who also travel to U.S.A. Instead, they stamp your visa, which is a separate document and they take it back from you on your departure from the country. This trick is being used in Cuba since the mid-90s (before that they would stamp your passport with some odd symbol without any mention of the word "Cuba").

These days Cuba is one of the most popular tourist destination of the Caribbean (if not the most popular), receiving close to 2 million tourists per year. In fact, U.S.A. is the only country in the world that prohibits its citizens from travelling to Cuba...