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Copernicia baileyana; photograph (c) J. L. Gómez-Hechavarría, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) J. L. Gómez-Hechavarría, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2012-03-11

Copernicia baileyana León

Bailey palm

Arecaceae · Cuba

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Copernicia baileyana, photograph (c) Mario Guzmán, some rights reserved (CC BY)Copernicia baileyana, photograph (c) Mario Guzmán, some rights reserved (CC BY)Copernicia baileyana, photograph Lima Cruz Mario Alejandro, CC BY-SA, via GBIFCopernicia baileyana, photograph Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsCopernicia baileyana, photograph David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCopernicia baileyana, photograph David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 16 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
15.0°C
Record low 11.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Jun, Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,377mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–43DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 3 records in 3 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Copernicia baileyana is a species of flowering plant in the palm family Arecaceae. It is sometimes referred to by the common name yarey and it is endemic to eastern and central Cuba. Like other members of this genus, C. baileyana is a fan palm. Trees are 10 to 20 metres tall with stems 40 (to 60) centimetres in diameter and are sometimes swollen. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Copernicia baileyana", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Copernicia

Copernicia is a genus of palms native to South America and the Greater Antilles. Of the known species and nothospecies (hybrids), 22 of the 27 are endemic to Cuba. They are fan palms, with the leaves with a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Copernicia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,025 mm of 1,394 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.2 °C against a yearly mean of 25.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Rain

1,394 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,025 mm of it May to October. Wettest month June at 228 mm, driest month December at 46 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,270 mm to 1,552 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,377 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,394 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 15.0 °C, the absolute minimum 11.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 18.6 °C to 20.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.4 °C in July and August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -31 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 3 records in 3 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Copernicia baileyana through the yearWarmest months June, July and August, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 19.8 °C; 1,394 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°36.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER11.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 24–43RH 59–64%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 3 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 25–2726 / 26–2827 / 27–2929 / 29–3030 / 30–3031 / 30–3131 / 31–3231 / 31–3230 / 30–3129 / 29–3027 / 27–2826 / 26–27
Night °C20 / 19–2020 / 19–2021 / 20–2121 / 21–2223 / 22–2424 / 24–2524 / 24–2524 / 24–2524 / 24–2523 / 23–2422 / 21–2321 / 20–21
Rain mm50 / 38–5565 / 49–6652 / 50–5478 / 70–84143 / 121–176228 / 179–278140 / 111–175165 / 135–203205 / 171–240144 / 143–17078 / 73–8246 / 40–52
DLI26 / 26–2731 / 31–3137 / 37–3743 / 41–4342 / 41–4341 / 41–4243 / 43–4441 / 41–4136 / 35–3731 / 31–3126 / 26–2724 / 24–25
RH %61 / 59–6360 / 59–6160 / 58–6059 / 58–6061 / 60–6364 / 63–6462 / 62–6363 / 62–6364 / 63–6564 / 62–6662 / 60–6461 / 60–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 3 grid cells holding the 3 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1337:1952 (23.125, -82.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 3 distinct grid cells holding 3 of the 3 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1337:1952 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 23.00_-82.500, lapse-corrected -31 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 18 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCuba · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker21.683, -77.909 · in the densest population, 8 records (57% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 14 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 3 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 13 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 11 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 14 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Copernicia baileyana, photograph 1did not loadCopernicia baileyana, photograph 2did not loadCopernicia baileyana, photograph 3did not loadCopernicia baileyana, photograph 4did not loadCopernicia baileyana, photograph 5did not loadCopernicia baileyana, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Mario Guzmán, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); Lima Cruz Mario Alejandro, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Acrocomia crispa Acrocomia crispa Cuban belly palm Photo: CC BY, Mario GuzmánRandia spinifex Randia spinifex Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Robin WhiteJacquinia aculeata Jacquinia aculeata Primulaceae Photo: Public domain, Daderot Alternanthera spinosa Amaranthaceae Brya ebenus Brya ebenus Ebony coccuswood Photo: CC BY, Roberto JovelCoccothrinax miraguama Coccothrinax miraguama Miragua palm Photo: CC BY, Yoannis Domínguez

Other Copernicia 11 in the reference

Copernicia alba Copernicia alba Caranday palm Photo: CC0, author not statedCopernicia berteroana Copernicia berteroana Hispaniolan Silver Palm Photo: CC BY, Mario GuzmánCopernicia ekmanii Copernicia ekmanii Ekman's Silver Palm Photo: CC BY, Brian Oakes Haiti HunterCopernicia fallaensis Copernicia fallaensis Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, Scott Zona Copernicia gigas Cuban palm Copernicia hospita Copernicia hospita Cubam palm Photo: CC BY-SA, User:CarstorCopernicia macroglossa Copernicia macroglossa Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, avocatCopernicia prunifera Copernicia prunifera Carnauba wax palm Photo: CC BY, Gabriel M. RolimCopernicia rigida Copernicia rigida Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, J. L. Gómez-HechavarríaCopernicia tectorum Copernicia tectorum Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, portioidCopernicia yarey Copernicia yarey Arecaceae Photo: CC BY, amantedarmanin

Names & registers

Also known as Copernicia baileyana f. bifida; Copernicia baileyana var. laciniosa. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
León
Native to
Cuba
Wild records
14 in range · 13 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (4 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 23.00_-82.500, lapse-corrected -31 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Copernicia baileyana León (the item's: IPNI 666232-1, POWO 666231-1)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 6 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…