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Tropical Plants Palms & Cycads Florida Gardening

I thought palms do not grow "branches"?

7 years ago

I have a bunch of these palms all over my property, not sure of their names. But I thought palms do not grow branches? All of them send up new shoots from the base, but one of them I just noticed has a baby palm in the middle of it's trunk. That's a branch, right? or is it a new palm?

Featured Answer

dirtygardener

7 years ago

Sometimes if a palm trunk is damaged, it will send out a "pup" such as that to try and save itself. That trunk looks like it has big splits in several places, so it makes sense that it would try to save itself. The "branches" coming up around the base are not branches but entirely different trunks. Some palms grow on a single trunk, some "clump."

I'm not sure of the ID, but they look like either Arecas (judging from the small sprouts coming up around the trunks), which form huge clumps, or Christmas palms, which are often planted & sold in clumps of 3s or 4s.

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Comments (7)

Ben(8b/9a north FL)
7 years ago
Yes , those are areca palms... spent 30 years surrounded by a wall of them...
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dirtygardener
7 years ago
Someone has done a good job of clearing all the growth out from the bottom, which if they did with a strong string trimmer, would damage the trunks enough to make one send out that pup. If they were mine, I'd let them fill in. They're much prettier like that.
Eric S
7 years ago
They are Dypsis lutescens. Palms normally don't branch unless they have been injured. Then a trunk may branch or fork. Only one genus of palms naturally branches, Hyphaene. But some of the clustering Dypsis species will occasionally branch or produce a small "side branch".
dirtygardener
7 years ago
I knew one of our palm & cycad experts would chime in soon. Thanks, Eric!
Florida_Joe's_Z10a
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I have many butterfly palms on my property and I'd say they branch fairly often.
Alejandro Rodriguez
7 years ago
Check out Doum Palm (Hyphaene thebaica)

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