Palms Available for Landscaping in Southern Florida
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There are many hostile elements a street tree must en Florida, there remains a significant void in maintenance dure: air pollution, compact growing spaces, sterile soils, and replacement. Education of tree maintenance workers vandalism, insects, disease, even dog urine. However, by and of the general public is an ongoing process which far the greatest detriment to the urban forest is induced should become a part of a community street tree program. by man. As in most communities across the country south Street trees in south Florida are becoming an intergral part Florida's publicly maintained trees are often at the end of of the environment in which people work and play. As a "shoe string" budget. A reduced emphasis on tree Winston Churchill has said; "Man shapes his environment, maintenance allows untrained, unsupervised or unqual afterwards, his environment shapes him". And so it is with ified individuals to work with trees. While there has been street trees in south Florida. a overall increase the number of street trees in south Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 100:156-159. 1987. PALMS AVAILABLE FOR LANDSCAPING IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA Murray J. Corman number of lines of palm listings was taken as a percentage Garden of Delights of total listings for the two years of 1980 and 1987. Also, 2018 Mayo Street the number of species listed in these years was compared Hollywood, FL 33020 for percentage of change (Table 1). Those palms affected by lethal yellowing are indicated by a " + " symbol and a "-" symbol indicates unaffected varieties. South Florida Abstract. Palms are highly ornamental and decorative, everg Water Management District and Fairchild Tropical Gar reen, mainly tropical, woody plants of the family Palmae. They are extensively planted in tropical and warm temperate den recommendations are also indicated by " + " symbols and a " - " symbol indicates non-recommended. Palm Soci regions around the globe. With about 210 genera and 2,780 species, the palm family can provide a wide range of texture ety sale catalogs and price lists from individual nurseries and shape to the landscape. In Southern Florida, nurseries were combined to produce a list of "secondary varieties" have exploited only a small percentage of the available (Table 3). For the purpose of this research, the southern germplasm. A list of readily available species has been in Florida area includes only the section of Florida south of cluded. the Palm Beach—Martin County line, including the Florida Keys, and east of the Everglades Water Conserva tion areas. "Man dwells naturally within the tropics and lives on the A combination of unusually cold winters in the late fruit of the palm tree. He exists in other parts of the world and there makes shift to feed on corn and flesh—Carolus 1970's and early 1980's and the continued effects of lethal Linnaeus 1707-1778. yellowing disease of susceptible palms, has left southern The words of the famed Swedish botanist (originator Florida in need of repalming, in order to maintain its un of the binomial nomenclature system of today) are not ique tropical appearance. nearly as true today as they were two centuries ago. How The economics of production and the functional limits ever, man's desire to "dwell within the tropics" is as true of various palm germplasm should be the main factors today as ever. Palm trees, a universal symbol of the tropics, determining availability of plant material in southern are increasing in popularity both as landscape plants (espe Florida. As the production of native and exotic palm vari cially in the warmer, southern areas) in Florida and as exo eties expands, the main limiting factors are (a) readily tic interiorscape plants throughout North America and available, reasonably priced seed and seedlings of appro Europe. priate varieties and (b) the willingness of producers to risk Locating sources for purchasing landscape plants com adding new plants to their product mix. As with all prod- patible with design plans and climatic conditions can be a frustrating challenge. Lists of varieties recommended for Table 1. Change in percentage of palm advertisements and number of landscape uses are published by Institute of Food and Ag species offered in Florida plant locator publications for the years 1980 ricultural Sciences of the University of Florida, South and 1987 (1, 2, 5). Florida Water Management District, and Fairchild Tropi cal Garden (3, 4, 8). However, the availability of many Publication Pages of % of % No. of % Month, year palm ads publication Change species Change palms listed is uncertain, at best. Those species available throughout the year now total more than 190 either from Florada Plant Finder 1.25 8.3 22 commercial nursries, Table 2, or semi-annual Palm Society Oct., 1980 39.7 172.7 Member Sales, Table 3. Florida Plant Finder 9 11.6 60 Sept., 1987 Dade County Materials and Methods Nursery Report 1.75 9.7 23 Sept., 1980 48.5 152 Professional nursery locator publications and Palm So Dade County ciety sale catalogs were used to determine number of Nursery Report 8.5 14.4 58 species and plant sizes offered (Tables 1, 2, 3). The June, 1987 156 Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 100: 1987. Table 2. Palm varieties and sizes offered in southern Florida (1) lethal Table 2. Continued yellowing susceptibility (4), xeriscape recommendation (8) and Fair- child Tropical Garden recommendation (3).z Parameters Scientific name Common name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 Parametersy Scientific name Common name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Ptychosperma elegans Soitaire palm 0 0 10 0 6 1 0 13 14 45' - + + Acoelorrhaphe wrightii Ptychosperma macarthurii Everglades palm 10 2 0 111 0 11 0 20' - + + Macarthur palm 0 1 10000 0 0 0-- + + Archontophoenix ahxandrae Rhapidophyllum hystrix Alexandra palm 10 010001 00-- + + Needle palm 0 0 01111000- Archontophoenix cunninghamiana Rhapis excelsa Piccabeen palm 00 101000 1 0- Slender lady palm 0 0 02220 0 0 2 12'- + + Arecastrum romanzoffianum Rhapis humilis Queen palm 1 0 62930 130 2 30'- + - Reed rhapis 0 0 01010 00 15 Arenga engleri Rhapis sp. Dwarf sugar palm 00 000100 0 0 6'+ Thai dwarf lady palm 0 0 22210 0 0 3 T Bismarckia nobilis Roystonia elata Bismarck palm 0100112 10 06'- + + Florida royal palm 2 1 10 0 0 0 0 12 0 50' - + + Butia capitata Sabalplmetto 00100 0 3 0 14'- + + Jelly palm 00 101010 108'- + - Cabbage palm 0 0 Carpentaria acuminata Serenoa repens 10000 0 0 0-- + + Carpentaria palm 0 1 50321 0 8 0 16'- + + Saw palmetto 0 0 Caryota mitis Thrinax morrisii 00010 0 2 0 12'- + + Clumping fishtail palm 10 12100 0 3 012'+ + + Key palm 0 0 Caryota urens Thrinax radiata 00020 0 2 9 9'- + + Toddy fishtail palm 00 00000 0 1 0-- + - Florida thatch palm 0 1 Chamaedorea sp. Trachycarpus fortunei 00 13000 0 0 0-- + + Windmill palm 1 0 00000 0 0 0-++- Chamaedorea cateractarum Veitchia sp. Sunshine palm 0 0 000000 10-++- Cat palm 00 01000 0 2 0-- + + Chamaedorea elegans Veitchia merrillii Christmas palm 0 0 11320 0 7 2 25'+ + - Parlor palm 00 10000 000 2'- + + Veitchia montgomeryana Chamaedorea erumpens Montgomery's palm 1 0 000000 10-+++ Bamboo palm 00 22210 000 5' + Chamaedorea seifrizii Veitchia winin Winin palm 1 0 000000 10-++- Reed palm 01 12000 000 5'- + + Washingtonia robusta Chamaerops huilis Washington palm 2 0 2 2 2 10 0 22 0 20' - + - European fan palm 0 1 21410 0 8 0 12'- + + Chrysalidocarpus lutescens yParameters are coded as follows: Areca palm 0 3 18 7 7 4 0 1 0 10 20' - + + 1) Liner (individual seedling or up to 50 plants per pot for repotting) Coccothrinax argentata 2) 1 and 2 gallon size containerized palms Florida silver palm 00 00010 0 1 0 12'- + + 3) 3 gallon size containerized palms Cocos nucifera 4) 7 gallon size containerized palms Coconut palm var. 5) 10 gallon size containerized palms 'Maypan' 00 00010 0 3 0 24'+ + + 6) 15-20 gallon size containerized palms Cocos nucifera 7) 30-40 gallon size containerized palms Coconut palm var. 8) 50-60 gallon size containerized palms 'Malayan' 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 113 0 20' + + - 9) Field grown individual palms Dictyosperma album 10) Field grown multiple palms Common princess palm 00 00010 0 105'+ + - 11) Maximum height offered Howeaforsterana 01 01000 00 0- 12) lethal yellowing disease (+ = susceptible) Kentia pallm 13) Xeriscape recommended (+ = recommended) Hyophorbe verschaffeltii 00 01100 100 5'+ + - 14) Fairchild Tropical Garden recommended (+ = recommended) Spindle palm zThis table represents only those varieties and sizes listed for sale in south Hyophorbe lagenicaulis ern lorida as of June 1987. Bottle palm 00 01111 0 1 0 6'- + - Latania loddigesii ucts, the tastes of the ultimate consumer determine the 00 01000 0 108'+ + - Blue latan supply of products presented to the market and the price Licuala grandis 01 11100 000 3'- + + for which they are sold. Licuala spinosa Palms usualy grown from seed often require years to Spiny licuala 00 01000 0 1 1 8'- + + achieve salable landscape size. Producers, therefore, can Livistona chinensis not respond as quickly to shifting tastes as with crops pro Chinese fan palm 22 85450 0 10 116'+ + + Livistona rotundifolia duced vegetatively. 00 02000 0 1 0 9' + The spectrum of palm varieties grown for ornamental Livistona saribus use in southern Florida is sufficient to supply many land 00 00100 000- © scape specifications. As building styles change over time, Neodypsis decaryi so do landscape needs. The palm nurseryman is often hard Triangle palm 10 10 111 1 1 0 18' + + + Phoenix reclinata pressed to shift from one variety to another due to the Senegal date palm 00 00000 0 7 028'+ + - comparatively slow growth rate from seedling to useable Phoenix roebelenii landscape size.