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Palm Family (Arecaceae)
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Palm Terrace at the Palomar College Arboretum.
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Left: King palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana), a beautiful species native to Australia. Right: Trithrinax acanthocoma native to Brazil.
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Left: Senegal date palm hybrid? Possibly a hybrid between (Phoenix reclinata) native to tropical Africa, and the pigmy date palm (P. roebelenii) native to southeast Asia. Right: Acoelorraphe wrightii, a striking fan palm native to the Florida Everglades.
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Triangle palm (Neodypsis decaryi), a fan palm native to Madagascar.
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Left: Windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) native to northern Burma and China. Right: Fishtail palm (Caryota urens) native to southeast Asia.
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Left: Shaving brush palm (Rhopalostylis sapida) native to the Norfolk Islands and New Zealand. Center: Puerto Rican hat palm (Sabal causiarum) native to Puerto Rico. Young leaves of this palm are boiled, dried and actually woven into hats and baskets. Most other species of Sabal retain their old leaf bases creating a textured crisscross or "cabbage leaf" pattern on the trunk. Several other species of Sabal in the Arboretum have this distinctive crisscross pattern, including S. palmetto.
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Left: Livistona decipiens, a fountain palm native to Australia. Right: Livistona australis, another species of fountain palm native to Australia. It is also called cabbage palm.
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Puerto Rican hat palm (Sabal causiarum) native to Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.
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Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), a dense clumping palm native to southern Florida. This the source of saw palmetto taken by men for a healthy prostate gland.
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Left: Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) native to the Canary Islands. Right: Cretan date palm (P. theophasti) native to Greece and Turkey. The latter species is similar in appearance to the cultivated date palm (P. dactylifera). The basal leaf segments (pinnae) are modified into stiffs pines. Like sharp-pointed daggers, they are a hazard when climbing into date palms to pick the fruit.
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Left: Queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana), a beautiful palm native to southern Brazil and Argentina, and widely cultivated in southern California. Right: Dried fruits (drupes) of the queen palm with the outer green skin (exocarp) removed. The fruits resemble miniature coconuts, particularly the fibrous husk (mesocarp) in inner woody endocarp with three germination pores. The meaty seed tissue (endosperm) even tastes a little like the coconut. In fact, this palm was once placed in the same genus as the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera). It was named Cocos plumosa. Later the name was changed to Arecastrum romanzoffianum and finally to Syagrus romanzoffiana.
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Queen palm endocarps showing the many "faces" produced by germination pores. The far right endocarp was polished by Steven Disparti.
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Jelly palm (Butia capitata), a South American monoecious palm native to Brazil. The large cluster of yellowish-orange drupes is produced on a stalk near the base of the curved leaves. The drupes have a fleshy, sweet mesocarp with the flavor of apricots. They are eaten fresh or made into jellies, jams, cakes, pies and other delicious deserts.
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Left: Carnaday wax palm (Copernicia alba) native to Paraguay, northern Argentina, Bolivia, and contiguous southwestern Brazil. It resembles the carnauba wax palm (C. prunifera) and is a secondary source of industrial wax. Leaves are removed individually from the tree, cut and shredded, and then dried, so that wax flakes off. A pound of carnauba wax is obtained from about 20 leaves. This powder is melted, strained, and then molded into blocks, to be shipped to manufacturing countries. Right: Leaf base and petiole of C. alba showing sharp, claw-like spines. The leaves have a thick, waxy cuticle layer covering the epidermis. Several pieces of raw carnauba wax from C. prunifera are also shown at bottom left. A little-known fact: Carnauba wax is used on Jelly Bean® and gormet JellyBelly® candies to produce the shiny surface!
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