Palm trees are among the most popular indoor plants. With their beautiful fan or pinnate leaves, they conjure up a Mediterranean ambience in every room. Contrary to popular belief, however, not all palms are sun-worshippers and each species has slightly different requirements for light and water. That is why it is important to know which palm tree you have. Despite the great diversity, there are over 2,000 palm subspecies, it is relatively easy to identify a palm tree as such.

A distinction is made between fan and pinnate palms (the latter shown here)

Feather palm or fan palm?

Palms are classified into two groups with numerous subgroups:

  • feather palms
  • fan palms.

You can recognize feather palms by the deeply incised leaf segments, which have a resemblance to feathers. The leaves of the fan palm are semicircular with less pronounced incisions.

appearance of the tribe

Due to the aging process, the foliage of many types of palm trees dries up and falls off the trunk. It leaves a scar that is responsible for the typically textured appearance of the palm trunk.

In some palms, for example the Canary Island date palm, the leaves are transformed into thorns near the trunk. This can serve as a further identification feature.

flowers and fruits

These would be an important identifier. Unfortunately, many palm trees cultivated in the garden or indoors never flower and therefore do not produce any fruit.

However, you can undoubtedly recognize the coconut palm by the fact that it grows out of the coconut lying on the substrate. This is one of the special charms of this palm species.

No secondary growth in thickness

If you look closely at the trunk, it becomes clear that you are dealing with a palm plant and not a tree. Unlike woody plants, palm trees do not have any secondary growth in thickness.

The leaves growing out of the heart give the palm trees their characteristic appearance. The trunk widens only through the remnants of dead foliage.

However, there are also palm trees that form spurs and, over time, appear like a small cluster of palm trees.

root

Unlike the roots of almost all plants, palm roots branch little and do not form hairy roots. Many palm plants, especially those that actually come from desert regions, also have deep roots.

tips

In addition to the real palm trees, there are also various plants that are only referred to as palm trees in our language. These include the yucca, an asparagus plant, and the poisonous Madagascar palm.

Category:

Trees