How to Identify Palm Trees

Let's decipher this, so you'll to learn how to identify palm trees.

When you're trying to identify a palm tree, about the first thing to do is look at palm leaves. The fronds. Palm fronds give you initial basics for sorting out different types of palm plants.

Palm Plant Identification Techniques - Oh You Really Don't Need a Magnifying Glass! 😉

Ask yourself these questions about the palm's leaves.

First, look at the leaf as it grows from the trunk. Decide what type of frond it is:

• Do leaflets spread out from one center point?

1. Then they're Palmate: Typically nicknamed fan palms. As they resemble a circular fan. 
2. But think of the term palmate. The fronds may also resemble a hand. Having the palm, with fingers coming out.

• Are the leaflets placed lining up along one center stem, on both sides of the stem? 

1. Then they're Pinnate: Think of a feather-like frond, like a bird. Or a ferny look. The small leaflets are arranged along the stem (rachis), having a feathery appearance.

• Does the leaf structure look different from either of those? Very helpful discovering another type yet!

These are the Bipinnate fronds. The entire branching is the leaf.

The only Bipinnate leafed palms are in the Caryoteae palm tribe.

Those are the Arenga, Caryota & Wallichia genera. Each leaf shape has a stem (petiole becoming the rachis) with sub-stems arranged in a row along the main stem. Then each of the sub-stems contain leaflets.

Bipinnate Caryota maxima - Native to Southeast Asia.
Photo: H Zell - CC BY-SA 4.0

• Is the palmate leaf instead truly a costapalmate frond? They're not that common. But one of them is the Vanuatu Fan Palm.

1. They're palmate looking leaves, but the petiole enters into the palm's blade, the green mass of the leaf.

A Costapalmate Design for Palm Fronds

• Is the palm leaf fully whole, without segments or leaflets? 

1. They're called Entire Leafed Palms.
2. Yet, some have notches going from the outer point of the frond. Notches can be very short, or go deeply half-way into the frond blade.

Examples are: 

Entire Leaf of the Geonoma cuneata Palm
Photo by Dr. Rolando Perez at Palmpedia

A great identification sorter is knowing the Palm Has a Crownshaft. Having unique characteristics.

Most people think of this type of palm, when hearing "Palm Trees." But they're definitely not an actual tree.

Tree-like means they have a single trunk, a solitary tall trunk. They can be small palm trees, too. These palm tree trunks come in all heights.

And they almost never have branches growing out from the trunk. Instead, individual leaf stems (petioles) grow out near the top. Forming the palm's crown.

The Chinese Fan Palm Can Survive Cold Temperatures.
A Slow-Growing Solitary Fan Palm
When Fully Grown the Livistona chinensis Can Reach 40' Tall.

Some palms appears bushy. Like a typical shrub. The shrubby appearance is from spreading out via suckers. Suckers grow off the main stem. Making them a multi-trunked palm. Some grow as wide as 10 feet.

They're often short. Therefore, many are used as Indoor Palm Tree Choices.

Rhapidophyllum hystrix - Native to the Southeastern US.
Nursery Sales Popularity has led to Rare Status.
Photo David J Stang - CC BY-SA 4.0

A large group of climbing palms are called rattans.

They grow in tropical climates, in rain forests. They don't want full sun! Clinging to any nearby tropical plant, to grow high up into canopies.

Australian Rainforest Climbing Rattan Palm About to Grab Hold & Go Up! Photo: Tatters @flickr - CC BY 2.0

Two climbing vine palm categories aren't rattans. One subfamily is Ceroxyloxideae in the Chamaedorea genus.

Others are in the genus Desmoncus. Six of their seven species are climbers.

Artist's Depiction of a Climber, Desmoncus polyacanthos
Its Scientific name is Greek for Many Banded Hooked Spines
See Its Grabbers for Climbing?

Called acaulescent palms.

The botany term for having no stem, or seeming to have no stem.

Even though called trunkless - really, it's just that the trunk is hidden. Growing below the ground, with a subterranean trunk. The Dwarf Palmetto (Sabal minor) is a prime example.

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Other times, trunk stems creep along the ground.

Making it seem like there is no trunk. But it's being a trickster!! This Brahea decumbens palm does that!

Usually Grows in Clusters - Making a Dense Clump.
They Sprawl Along the Ground!
Sometimes Used as a Palmy Type of Ground Cover.
Photo: Stan Shebs - CC BY-SA 4.0

Mature palms always produce flowers, around springtime.

Usually growing anywhere from one to five branching stalks. Most flowers are tiny, growing from the stem, called the inflorescence.

They're not often very showy. The flowers themselves don't help much when looking for how to identify palm trees.

The Toddy Palm's Flowers Hang Downward 10ft/3m, helping for your palm identification.
Photo: Dinesh Valke - CC BY-SA 4.0

What does help narrow down Genera, is where exactly does the inflorescence grow out from the trunk. Several possibilities:

• With crownshaft palms, inflorescences grow immediately above or immediately below the crownshaft.
• Rarely they grow at the trunk bottom, or even from underground.
• Often they grow from amidst the leaf crown, called axillary inflorescences. Some go upwards, for a stunning look.

Coconut Palms Regularly Grow Short Inflorescences. Fruiting will be Ongoing.
Photo: Malcolm Manners @Flickr -CC BY 4.0 Deed

A few produce flowers only once, sometime between 40-60 years old. Then the palm dies.

• Clustering palms of this sort are hapaxanthic. Only the stem with the inflorescence will die.
  
• Solitary trunk forms are termed monocarpic.

This Young Monocarpic, Solitary Metroxylon sagu Can Live A Long Life
Then Flowers & Fruits & Dies. Photo: Widana53 - CC BY-SA 4.0

Also the thing to note is inflorescence length, a big help. Are they hidden by fronds, or do they extend out past the crown? Plus observe how they branch (many or few) & if any bracts are noted.