Acoelorrhaphe wrightii – The Everglades orPaurotis Palm is native to the Everglades, aswell as wetlands in the Bahamas, westernCuba, the Yucatan Peninsula and CentralAmerica. The palm forms large clusters ofstems. The black fruits are consumed by birds,which disperse the seeds.

Adonidia merrillii – The Christmas Palm gets itscommon name from the clusters of bright redfruits that are abundant in December. This palmis native to limestone islands the Philippines butis cultivated throughout the world.

Campus Palm GuidePalms are icons of the Tropics, but their range and impact extend far beyond the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Innature, palm fruits are important food resources for many species of wild animals. Wherever they occur, palms are usedby local people for construction materials, thatch, fiber, food, oils, wax, sugar and alcohol. A few palms have become agro-nomic crops and enter into world commerce: palm oil and palm kernel oil (from the fruits and seeds, respectively, of theAfrican Oil Palm, Elaeis guineensis), coconut and coconut oil (from Cocos nucifera), dates (Phoenix dactylifera), rattans (variousspecies) and carnauba wax (Copernicia prunifera). A Brazilian palm fruit known as açaí has recently gone international. Herein South Florida, palms are important ornamental landscape plants. They enhance the lush look of South Florida.

Because palms are so important, both ecologically and culturally, this guide was prepared to interpret the palms growingaround the pond, east of Viertes Haus (VH), south of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) and west of Owa Ehan (OE).These same palm species, along with several others, are found throughout the campus, but this guide is limited to the palmsin this area.

The Campus Palm Guide was made possible by grant from the South Florida Palm Society. www.southfloridapalmsociety.org.

Attalea crassispatha – One of the most endangeredpalms in the world, the Carossier is native to a smallarea in Haiti, where its habitat is being destroyed byhuman activities and livestock grazing.

Carpentaria acuminata – The Carpentaria Palmwas introduced to Florida from its native Australiain the 1970s. It is fast-growing, with a gracefulcrown, and produces beautiful clusters of small,red fruits.

Caryota mitis – The Fish-tail Palm of SoutheastAsia is remarkable for itsflowering habit: clustersof flowers emerge fromthe stem from the topdown. After the lower-most flowers producefruits, the stem will die,but the palm producesother stems. It gets itscommon name from theshape of the leaflets. Thejuice of the fruit can irri-tate skin.

Bismarckia nobilis – The BismarckPalm is native to western Mada-gascar. It looks similar to the BlueLontar Palm (Latania loddigesii),to which it is closely related.With practice, one can easily tellthe difference between the twospecies. The Bismarck Palm ismore cold-hardy, taller and hasthreadlike filaments between theleaflets. This species is a popularlandscape plant because of itssivery blue leaves.

Coccothrinax crinita – Com-monly called the Old ManPalm, this species occurs onlyin Pinar del Río, Cuba, whereit is critically endangered.Only 61 adult palms areknown to survive in the wild.The long, shaggy fibers thatclothe the trunk are distinc-tive for this species.

Cocos nucifera – The Coconut is one of the most usefulpalms in the world. The trunk is used for construction, theleaves for thatch, fibers, brooms and mats, and of course,the seeds are edible and a source of oil commonly used insoaps and cosmetics. It is cultivated worldwide but thoughtto have originated in the islands of the western Pacific.

Dictyosperma album –The Princess Palm isnative to the Mas-carene Islands of theIndian Ocean. Theirgraceful, pinnateleaves and ease ofculture make thispalm a popularchoice for landscapedesigners.

Coccothrinax argentea – The Guano of Hispaniola is a tall,solitary palm with palmate leaves. The leaves are commonlyused to manufacture brooms.

Dypsis lutescens – theAreca Palm is nativeto Madagascar, whereit is endangered inthe wild. It is, how-ever, one of the mostwidely cultivated or-namental palms inthe world. The spe-cific epithet means“yellowish” and refersto the yellowish castto the leaves andstems of this palm.

Hyophorbe lagenicaulis – The Bottle Palm is native tothe island of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, where itis critically endangered. It is an easy-to-grow palmwith a striking, bottle-shaped trunk topped with afew pinnate leaves.

Hyophorbe verschaffeltii – The Spindle Palm, like its close rela-tive the Bottle Palm, is native to Mauritius, where it is endan-gered. It is grows easily and produces a thickened,spindle-shaped trunk. This species is more cold-tolerant thanthe related Bottle Palm.

Dypsis decaryi – The Triangle Palm gets its commonname from its three-sided crown of leaves. Its nativehabitat is a narrow transition zone between rainforestand spiny desert in southern Madagascar.

Licuala spinosa – Knownin the nursery trade asthe Spiny Licuala. Boththe common and scien-tific names refer to thispalm’s leafstalks, whichare heavily armed withstout teeth. It forms clus-ters of stems. In its nativeSoutheast Asia, it occursin swamps.

Leucothrinax morrisii – Until recently, the unique identity of theBrittle Thatch Palm or Keys Thatch Palm was hiding in plainsight! Long known as Thrinax morrisii, this species was placedin a new genus in 2008, after botanists found that its DNA se-quences differed from those of true Thrinax species. The Brit-tle Thatch Palm occurs in the Lower Keys, as well as theBahamas, Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Livistona chinensis – Native to southern China, Taiwanand Japan, the Chinese Fan Palm is widely cultivatedaround the world. Its blue-green fruits are highly or-namental and borne in great abundance. They arenot edible.

Latania loddigesii – The Blue Latan Palm is nativeto the islands of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean.Male and female flowers occur on separate plants,and both are necessary in order to produce fruits.

Livistona saribus – Native to SoutheastAsia, where it occurs in swamps andwet forest, sometimes in large colonies,the Serdang or Taraw Palm is a largepalm with vicious teeth along its leaf-stalk.

Phoenix canariensis – The Canary Island Date Palm hasbeen in cultivation in Florida since the 1880s. It is found inthe wild only in the Canary Islands, where the sap ittapped from living palms to make a syrup. The fruits areedible but a poor substitute for the true Date (Phoenixdactylifera).

Phoenix dactylifera – The Date Palm is one of mankind’soldest cultivated crops. The Date Palm is a cultigen, acrop species that does not exist in the wild form. Thesepalms are purely ornamental, as the fruit quality is poorin Florida’s wet climate.

Livistona decora – The Ribbon Palm gets its common name fromthe narrow, drooping segments of the leaves. It is native toQueensland, Australia, but is cultivated around the world. It is afast-growing palm, popular with palm enthusiasts. This species wasformerly known as Livistona decipiens.

Phoenix roebelenii –From the MekongRiver of SoutheastAsia comes thePygmy Date Palm, asmall palm that canhave either a solitarytrunk or multipletrunks. Beware of thelong spines at thebase each leaf; theyinflict wounds thatare prone to infec-tion. The trunk hasknobby projectionsthat are distinctive tothis species.

Phoenix rupicola –The Cliff DatePalm is native toIndia and Bhutan.The trunk is al-ways solitary, andthe flattenedfronds twist sothat the leafletsare held perpendi-cular to the sky.

Ptychosperma elegans – The Solitaire Palm is native toQueensland, Australia, but widely cultivated in SouthFlorida. The red fruits are consumed by birds. The trunkis solitary, but growers often plant two or three palms to-gether in a group, as are the examples planted here.

Phoenix reclinata – The Senegal Date Palm is native to a widearea of tropical East Africa. This palm produces large clusters ofstems. As in all species of Phoenix, the fruits are edible, but theyare not as large as those of the true date palm (see above).

Ravenea rivularis – TheMajesty Palm is from Mada-gascar, where it grows inswamps. Fortunately, thispalm will also grow on dryland. It was introduced tocultivation in Florida in the1990s and is now populararound the world.

Sabal causiarum – The PuertoRican Hat Palm, so namedbecause its leaves were onceused for weaving hats, is na-tive to Puerto Rico and His-paniola. It is a large palmwith a massive trunk, muchlarger than the related Sabalpalmetto. Its flowers andfruits attract and sustainwildlife.

Roystonea regia – The national tree of Cuba, the Royal Palmalso grows naturally in Florida, the Bahamas, and the YucatanPeninsula. It is fast-growing and stately, and its fruits are en-joyed by birds and bats. It is cultivated around the world.

Ptychosperma macarthurii – The Macarthur Palm is a cluster-ing palm, forming large, narrow clumps of slender stems. Itis native to New Guinea and adjacent northern Australia. Thispalm was popular in Florida in the mid-20th Century, but ithas since fallen out of fashion. The small, red fruits are deco-rative.

Syagrus romanzoffi-ana – The QueenPalm is cultivatedthroughout Floridaand southern Califor-nia because it iscold-hardy and easyto grow. It is nativeto southern Brazil,Paraguay, Uruguayand northeastern Ar-gentina. The QueenPalm is a relative ofthe coconut and, likethe coconut, has oilyseeds.

Thrinax radiata – Ournative Thatch Palm canbe found in the UpperKeys, but it also occursnaturally in Hispaniola,Cuba, Jamaica andcoastal Yucatan Penin-sula. The white fruits areconsumed by birds.

Veitchia arecina – A tall, slender palm with redfruits, the Montgomery Palm is widely usedin Florida landscapes. It is native to the Vanu-atu Islands in the western Pacific.

Sabal palmetto – The state tree of both Florida and SouthCarolina, the Cabbage Palm has many uses by Florida’s in-digenous people. Seminoles call it Taal Choobe and use theleaves for thatch. It is also an important wildlife resource. Itsflowers attract scores of insects, and birds feast upon thefruits.

Wodyetia bifurcata – The Fox-Tail Palm getsits name from the shape of its leaf, in whichthe spreading leaflets give it a bushy, fox-tailappearance. Surprisingly, this species wasdiscovered in 1983 in Queensland, Australia,at a time when most botanist believed thepalms of Australia were well known.

Zombia antillarum – Thetrunks of this clustering palmfrom Hispaniola are clothedin spiny leaf sheathes that aredecorative but dangerous.The Zombie Palm occurs inseasonally dry habitats, oftenon soils rich in nickel andother heavy metals.

Text & photos: © Scott Zona, Ph.D., Dept. of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199 USA.

Washintonia robusta – The Mexican Fan Palm is native tonorthwestern Mexico. It is a fast-growing species thatcan grow very tall. The genus name was given to thesepalms to honor George Washington, one of only threeUS presidents for whom plants have been named.