20 Different Types of Palm Trees
Do you know how many palm trees exist in the world? So we can forgive you for thinking there are only a handful of types of palm trees. Instead, there are over 2,600 species of palm trees worldwide, each with unique characteristics and quirks. Consequently, there are also plenty of different sub-types within those species. For example, some palm trees have leaves with more feathery fronds than others; certain kinds are smaller than others; some grow faster than others, and so on.
In 2020/21, the global production of palm oil was 73 metric tonnes. However, not all these distinctions are cut and dried. So whether you’re looking to add a bit of exotic flair or astound your friends with your knowledge of the different types of palm trees, read on.
The following are different types of palm trees.
1. The Freudians’ State Tree, The Cabbage Palm
The cabbage palm(Sabal palmetto) is also the state tree of South Carolina. Other common names are sabal palmetto, cabbage palmetto, or Carolina palmetto. Sabal palmetto mainly grows in the coastal regions of the southeastern United States, such as Cuba and the Bahamas.
The tree grows slowly, taking 15–30 years to reach a height of 30–40 feet and a spread of 12–15 feet at maturity. However, the growth rate depends on the environment of the tree. The tree requires moderate to full sun and neutral pH or medium alkaline soil. In addition, it’s humidity and drought-tolerant.
The cabbage palm has curved, fan-shaped leaves 3–4 feet long and trunks around 10–16 inches in diameter. Moreover, it has fragrant flowers that extend beyond the leaves and produces a quarter inch of fruit in summer, early winter, and fall.
The cabbage palm has different merits.
- Raccoons, birds, and other animals eat and disperse the seeds.
- Flowers attract bees and butterflies.
- Humans harvest the hearts of the cabbage palm for food and use them as a significant ingredient in the heart of palm salad.
- It is a street tree for patios and the beachfront.
2. The Buccaneer Palm Trees
The Buccaneer palm (Pseudophoenix Sargentii) is also known as the Florida cherry palm, cherry palm, Sargent cherry, or Palma de Guinea. The tree grows mainly in South Florida, Belize, Cuba, and the Bahamas.
The remarkable and endangered tree has a smooth gray trunk with scars from the shed fronds. It is a 15-foot tall, dark green, pinnate-shaped, feathery variety with long leaves. The fruit produces small yellow flowers in the late summer, and the green berry-like fruits turn red when ripe.
3. The Windmill Palm
The windmill palm (Trachycarpus Fortunei) is a single, thick, trunked tree with brown fiber. It is a highly adaptable evergreen tree, growing to a height of around 10–40 feet with a spread of 6–10 feet. The tree grows slowly, at a rate of less than a foot per year.
It prefers fertile, moist, well-drained soils with partial sun. Furthermore, you must water the young plant regularly for a healthy root system.
4. The Caribbean Islands’ Jamaican Thatch Palms
The Jamaican Thatch Palm(Thrinax exnelsa) is often confused with the Coccothrinax species. However, the only difference is that they have chocolate brown and purple-black fruit with splitted root bases, making them one of the prettiest palm trees.
The Jamaican thatch palm has single, erect, gray-brown stems that grow to 11 meters tall and 20 centimeters in diameter. The young plant’s branches are covered with matter fiber forms of leaf bases, while the upper reaches of the older palms have an extended root at the bottom.
It has a canopy of palmitic leaves that are waxy gray on the underside and small white fruit. You can use the Jamaican thatch palm as a windbreaker for your landscape or patio.
5. Florida Silver Palm
The Florida silver palm(Coccotrinax argentata) is an evergreen palm. It has a smooth vertical trunk and beautiful fan-shaped leaves. It can reach a height of 5-20 feet and a width of about five feet.
The Florida silver palm tree prefers dry to moist, well-drained soils with full sunlight (around 6 hours a day). Also, the tree is tolerant to salty winds and sprays and drought lenient without getting injuries. However, it does not tolerate brackish water.
Florida silver palm is a low-maintenance crop but requires low to average water for efficient growth. You can plant the palm to increase the beauty of your patio as you relax and welcome beautiful birds to add luxury to your home.
6. Key Thatch Palm
The Key thatch palm(Thrinax morrisii) is native to Florida and the West Indies. When mature, the tree has a height of 20-35 feet with a spread of 8–12 feet. Additionally, it has a coarse texture and a symmetrical, erect, and open crown.
The leaves are dark greenish blue and shiny on top, with silver to green underneath, are palmate, fan-shaped, and alternate without a change in color during fall. The white, non-showy, drooping white or yellow flowers grow in spring and summer. Also, during spring or fall, the palm develops a round, quarter-to-half-inch fleshy fruit that turns yellow when ripe.
The plant requires clay, sand, and well-drained soil with full sun during growth. However, the plant is drought and salt-tolerant. The beautiful thatch plant is helpful in residential landscapes to add glamor to the building’s entrance.
7. The European Fan Palms
The European Fan Palm (Chamaerops Humilis) is an 8–15 foot tall tree, spreading to about 6–10 feet, and is on the Florida plant checklist. It is a slow-growing, hardier palm native to Europe. The distinctive fine-textured pearls differentiate it from other palms.
The European fan palm grows in partial sun and is drought resistant upon establishment. Additionally, it is resistant to yellowing disease, which is a more significant problem for other palm species.
You can plant the palm in your yard or garden as it does not expand like other palms.
8. The Lipstick Palm
The Lipstick palm(Crystostachys renda) is a native of Sumatra and the Malaysian islands. It is also known as the Red Seal Wax Palm, Wax Palm, or Rajah’s Palm. How was it named? “Crystostachys” is a Greek word that means curved, while “Stachys” means ear of grain, describing the nature of the curve.
It is a slow-growing palm, growing to a height of up to 10-20 feet and a width of 1–5 feet. However, it can grow to around 50 feet tall under the right conditions. Lipstick palm prefers loamy, moist, rich soils but can tolerate well-drained soils. Nevertheless, it does not tolerate cold temperatures and drought and requires sufficient water, sometimes growing in stagnant water.
The palm has a magnificent red crown shaft. It has slender, smooth trunks that are thick at the base and bear green flowers beneath the crown shaft. The flower produces small, shiny fruits that turn black when ripe but are not edible.
9. The Small Pygmy Date Palm
The pygmy date palm(Phoenix Rocherlenii) is a short palm tree that can grow in pots. The pygmy is a subtropical plant of the Arecaceae family. It can be grown both outdoors and indoors. In an outdoor setting, the tree grows to 6.5 feet with a spread of 5 feet. However, in an indoor environment, it grows to 6 feet.
The pygmy has a brilliant trunk with beautiful juts along it. If you wish to plant them, do so in clumps. The flowers are long clusters that emerge in spring and produce reddish fruits that turn dark during summer.
As mentioned earlier, the pygmy palm can grow in pots. Therefore, you can plant the palm in your backyard in a pool as it is small and has a top-notch appearance.
Potassium deficiency is the most common problem affecting the pygmy date palm. However, you can treat the defect using fertilizer. Unfortunately, an incurable disease known as Ganoderma butt rot also affects the plant. Therefore, you should dispose of the infected plant to prevent the disease from spreading to other palms.
10. The Taper Into a Long Point, Carpentaria Palms
The Carpentaria palm(Carpentaria Acuminata) is a fast-growing palm tree that grows 40 feet long. Additionally, it is stylish, tall, and feathery, with a distinctly smooth and ringed trunk. The tree’s foliage is a 2 m long pinnate spirally arranged with a green color and a bluish green color beneath.
The Carpentaria palm grows well in moist, drained soils but can adapt to many soils with full sun and frequent watering. P. de Carpenter, the former Governor of the Dutch East Indies, inspired the name of the palm.
The Carpentaria palm stands out for indoor beautification, decks, or patios. Luckily, no diseases are causing significant threats to the Carpentaria species. However, the plant is affected by thrips.
11. Queen’s Palm
The queen palm(Sygarus Romanzoffiana), or cocos palm, is native to South America. It is a famous ornamental tree, usable for commercial and residential purposes. The tree grows to heights of up to 50 feet and has a spread of 7.6 meters. The trunk is straight and branchless, with a crown of canopy leaves.
The plant has blue or green foliage and requires well-drained soil with full sun. Additionally, it is drought-resistant, but it may not provide the best design when not well watered. Also, it does not perform well in alkaline soils.
Birds such as the Brazilian teenager, tropical parula, and rufous-bellied thrush feed on the fallen fruit pulp. Also, squirrels, peccaries, deer, and tapirs disperse the seed weevils.
The queen palm is famous for
- Urban landscaping.
- In Brazil, they cut the leaves to provide animals with fodder. However,
- In some regions, the fallen fruits feed pigs.
- Palm trunks construct water pipes to make other pipes.
- The bud is used as a vegetable, pickled, or preserved in oil.
- The trunk provides sago.
12. The Noble Bismarck Palm
The Bismarck’s palm(Bismarkia Nobilis) grows to 30 to 60 feet with a spread of 12-16 feet. It is one of the most beautiful and desired palm trees in South Florida. Otto Von Bismarck gave the palm its name in the early 19th century. The Nobilis, in its name, means noble, after the nobility of the chancellor.
The palms do not tolerate windstorms. However, they tolerate drought and salt sprays on the leaves. They are prone to potassium deficiency, causing yellow-orange spotting, necrosis, or premature leaf death. They are also disease resistant, but Ganoderma butt rot may cause their death. The Bismarck palm serves several aesthetic and medicinal purposes.
13. The Mexican Fan Palms
The Mexican fan palm(Washingtonia robusta) Mexican Washingtonia or Skyduster grows to approximately 80 feet long with a 2-3 meter spread in well-drained soils with full sun. The palm is a low-maintenance tree that requires minimal watering and pruning. But, first, you should prune the dead leaves to create neat patterns.
Additionally, it is tolerant to drought and salt sprays on leaves. It is a showy, tall, evergreen with columnar trunks capped with beautiful, fan-like green leaves. The leaves are divided halfway to the plant’s base.
The perfect use of the Mexican fan palm is in garden beds and borders.
14. The True Date Palm
The True Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is a palm that tolerates shallow temperatures. Its other common names are Phoenix central palm or jewel palm. The palm is a moderately growing tree, reaching up to 40-50 feet tall and 10-15 feet wide.
It performs well in most well-drained soils with partial sun. However, it is water resistant for short periods. The palm has a uniform lone broad trunk with ornamental leaf scars. Furthermore, it has white or yellow flowers about four feet long. At eight years, the tree produces green dates that turn dark brown when ripe.
15. The Nike Goddess Symbol, The Areca Palm
The Areca palm (Chrysalidocarpus Lutescons), Eureka palm, Butterfly Palm, or Yellow Palm grows to 6-7 feet, growing at 6-10 inches per year with a longevity of approximately ten years.
The Areca palm is grown for bright indoors, making it one of the widely planted palm trees. Areca requires complete care, such as watering and pruning. You must keep the soil moist before the next watering, allowing the soil to dry slightly. It also requires an occasional trimming of yellow or old brown fronds.
The Areca plant can be used in the landscape to provide privacy or hedge planting to cover a black wall fence or side of a house or garage, as a container plant for a pool patio or screened lanai, or in a cage planter.”I am a magnificent palm tree! I know I can withstand life’s hurricanes because I have borne the cost, and my faith roots have grown deep.”John Di Lemme
16. The Kentia Palm Tree, or Paradise Palm
The kentia palms(Howea Forsteruana) are native to Lord Howe Island. They grow slowly to reach 40 feet with a spread of 6-10 feet. The kentia palm requires acidic loamy and well-drained soil with the partial sun for efficient growth, blooming in winter.
It’s adaptive to low light and moderate cold. The Kentia palm requires sufficient light. However, it’s susceptible to heat and requires minimal pruning. Prune only dead or disease-infected fronds.
The most common pests are spider mites, scales, and mealy bugs. Additionally, fungal issues and leaf spots can affect the palms, although you can quickly treat them by using pesticides.
17. Broadleaf Palm Tree, Lady Palm
The lady palm(Rhapis excelsa) is both an outdoor and an indoor palm. It survives in many environments and is viable for indoor use worldwide. It is also known as fan palm, finger palm parlor balm, or Chamaedorea reed palm.
The ‘lady’s palm grows at a rate of 8–12 inches annually, reaching a height of about 6–15 feet, with a spread of 6–15 feet. The palm performs best with regular moisture, particularly in summer. However, they can tolerate a minimal drought.
Rhapis means needle in Greek, and the lady palm’s needle-like leaf segments inspired the name. Aphids, scales, nematodes, and fireblights frequently concern fan palms. You can use the lady palm as a container plant in businesses and residences. Perfect hedges and great screens are also available.
18. The Prostate Cancer Treatment, Saw Palmetto
Saw palmetto(Serenea palmetto) is the sole species of the genus Serenea. It has a slow growth rate and achieves a height of 5 feet with a width of 4-10 feet. Saw palmetto palms grow well in sandy soils with partial sun. However, they tolerate soils that are well drained.
Additionally, they require regular watering before the roots establish themselves. After that, it becomes drought resistant and can adapt to humid conditions. Therefore, you should do so if you need to transplant when the plants are young.
The saw palmetto has many trunks and thus has showy, scale-like patterns. The trunk also grows along the ground to form odd curves as the plant matures. Also, it has broad fan-shaped leaves with pointed leafless spines on the edges. They have small yellow-white flowers that bloom three feet long to give yellow berries that turn black when ripe.
The Saw palmetto is helpful for:
- Birds and mammals feed on the berries. Flowers attract bees, which eat the nectar to produce Saw palmetto honey.
- Caterpillars depend on the leaves for food.
- You can plant the palm in shaded areas for ground cover.
19. The California Fan Palmette Palm
The California fan palm(Washingtonia filifera) is the country’s most enormous palm. It grows by about one foot a year, rising to approximately 66 feet in the best conditions. It is also known as the American cotton palm or desert fan palm. They have a sturdy salutary trunk that grows in unbending column shapes.
The trunks have thick bases that turn grey upon maturity with bright green, threadlike, 5-7 foot long leaflets and are adaptive palms. However, young palms do not tolerate shallow temperatures, and too much water may cause the roots to rot.
The palm was helpful to Native Americans for food during droughts and for making cakes. Also, some tribes use the leaves to make baskets and thatch. “Like the palm tree, it is the temper of the highest hearts to strive upwards when it is most burdened.” Philip Sidney
20. The Tree Of Life, The Coconut Palm
The coconut tree(cocos Nucifera) is the only living species of the genus Cocos. It’s one of the most widely used types of palm and exists in two forms:
- Dwarf coconut palms: Grow to 8-10 m and start bearing when they are below 1 m high.
- The tall coconut palms: Rise to 20- 30 meters and mature 6- 7 years after planting.
The coconut palm has a crown of giant green leaves. The mature fruits have a thick fibrous husk surrounding the standard single-seeded nut of commerce and are round or oval, measuring 300-450 mm in length and 6-8 inches in diameter. A hard shell protects the little embryo and its abundant endosperm, which has both meat and liquid. Coconut fruits float effortlessly and have been widely dispersed throughout the tropics by ocean currents and humans.
People use coconut oil for the following:
- Coconut fruit is rich in oil and is eaten fresh or used to make cooking oils.
- Coconut water makes beverages
- Its dry husk can make ropes, mats, and baskets
- Mature palm leaves make thatched roofs and weave baskets.
What States Have Palm Trees?
There are several kinds of palm trees in the US. However, palm trees extend north of the Carolinas and west of Southern California. In addition, palms native to the US grow in the states of Louisiana, Florida, California, Arizona, Texas, and Hawaii.
Which is the Fastest-Growing Palm?
The Caryota urens is the fastest growing type of palm tree, taking just five years to grow at a rate of 7 feet per year to attain 40 feet in five years.
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