Palm trees exhibit an enormous diversity in physical characteristics. As well as being diverse, palm trees also inhabit nearly every type of habitat within their range, from rainforests to deserts. Palms are one of the most well-known and extensively cultivated plant families.

Palm Trees have had an important role to humans throughout history. Many common products and foods today are derived from palms, and palms are widely used in landscaping for their exotic appearance, making them one of the most economically important plants in Florida. Today, palms remain a popular symbol for the tropics and vacations.

While various species of Cycads can be found throughout the world, the subtropical Sago Palm is native to the Far East and the cold hardy Sago Palm has been used as a choice container and landscape plant for centuries. The growth habit of the Sago Palm displays an upright trunk with a diameter from 1" to 12" depending on age topped with stiff feather-like leaves growing in a circular pattern. Rather than continuously adding foliage, a Sago Palm produces a periodic "flush" of new leaves, called a "break". Eventually, offsets begin to grow at the base of the Sagos, and occasionally in the crown. The addition of offsets provides a source of new plants.

This beautiful feather palm tree has long pinnate leaves that arch and curve towards the ground from atop a thick trunk. The trunk can grow to 20 feet in height, but normally reaches 12 to 15 feet with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 feet. Typically, the old leaf stalks persist for years, although specimens with clean trunks are not uncommon. Leaves range from light green to bluish gray and grow 5 to 10 feet long. The leaf stems range from about 2 to 4 feet in length and have spines along both edges. The palm produces bright orange fruit. These palms vary in form. Specimens raised in dry or infertile soils tend to be smaller in. Light also affects the plant's form, those grown in full sun are more compact.

Stately and robust, Texas Sabal Palms grow up to 50’ tall in ideal conditions with a solitary trunk, 8-32" in diameter. With a canopy of mature leaves, the Texas Sabal Palm Tree may be 8-25’ across. The gray trunk has closely spaced annular rings. Usually part of the trunk remains covered with old leaf stem “boots,” that often split at their bases. These persistent boots form a characteristic crosshatch pattern on the trunk. The leaf stems are smooth and completely thornless and may be up to 15 ft in length. Texas Sabal Palm Trees have 10-25 fan-shaped leaves ranging in color from deep emerald green for palms in shade or part shade, to lighter green for palms receiving more sunlight. The Palm Tree's leaves have prominent and downward arching leaf midribs that give them a three-dimensional effect. Texas Sabal Palms may flower when very young, often blooming when the trunk is small or even nonexistent.

Large, rapid growing and hardy all describe the Mexican Fan Palms. Native to the riparian washes and gullies of Northern Mexico, Baja, Southern California and Arizona Mexican Fan Palm trees are very drought and salt tolerant once established. Adapted to a wide range of soil types, and climates. This species easily hybridizes with the California/Desert Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera) and a wide variation in phenotypes (outward appearance and growth characteristics) occurs under cultivated conditions.

The Canary Island Date Palm tree is a suckering palm that is usually pruned to have only one trunk. Trimmed in this manner the tree will grow to heights of 100 feet. Leaflets near the base are modified into 3-4 inch spines. The yellow-orange to red fruit, called 'dates', are oblong and about 1.5 inches in length. They consist of a large pointed seed surrounded by sweet sugary flesh. Dates are formed from flowers on 4-foot inflorescence that emerge from among the leaves in spring. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants. Only female plants produce dates and only if a male tree is nearby. Dates are not formed in climates that are too cool.

The Mediterranean fan palm trees form clumps than can grow up to 15' in height. The triangular, fan-shaped leaves grow to about 20-24" long by 24" wide. They are deeply divided into multiple segments that are themselves split at the tip and they are supported on 3-4' stems. Cold hardy California Fan palm trees are an extremely variable plant both in color (the leaves range from blue-green to gray-green to yellow-green) and in shape. Some plants form suckers more freely than others to become very shrubby plants that may reach 15' in width. Other individuals can be seen that are almost dwarf growing just 5' tall by 4' wide. These days it is popular to remove all but a few of the suckers and to prune the leaves to form a cluster of clear-trunked "mini" palms.

Stately and distinctive, the California Fan Palm tree is one of the most widely grown palms in subtropical climates. The California Fan palms massive gray trunks are barrel shaped and ringed with old leaf scars, and may reach over 3' in diameter at the Palms widest point. The petioles (leaf stems) of mature palms are armed along the margins with curved thorns; those of young palms are largely unarmed. The individual leaflets are pendulous and swing freely in the wind. Abundant cotton-like threads on and between the leaflets persist even when the California Palm tree is mature. If old leaves are not removed, they form a continuous "petticoat" from the crown all the way to the ground. The California Fan Palm tree produces numerous branching flower clusters that project out and often downward from the leaf crown. The bisexual blossoms are white and yellow and give rise to oblong or round red-black fruit, each about a half inch in diameter. The fruits of California Fan Palm trees contain a single seed, approximately 1/4" in diameter.

This palm has a smooth straight gray trunk ringed with evenly spaced leaf scars and topped with a large canopy of feathery fronds. The fronds are dark green and have double rows of leaflets. This palm is noted for its spectacular clusters of flowers and fruits. The flower clusters burst from large pods during the summer. In early winter, the green fruit clusters appear. The spherical-shaped fruit eventually turns bright orange, hanging in clusters up to six feet in length.

Windmill Palms have a rather slender single stem that is 8 to 10 inches in diameter and is typically a bit narrower at the base than at the top. Trunks are usually covered with a loose mat of coarse gray or brown fiber. In older individuals the fiber sloughs away to reveal a smooth ringed surface. Chusan Palm, as it is also commonly called, has light to dark green palmate leaves that are lighter, almost silvery (glaucous), on the underside. They are held on thin 3 foot flattened stems that are finely toothed along both edges. Leaves are circular, about 3 feet in diameter and segmented about halfway. They are flat with leaf segment tips held stiffly, but occasionally you will see individuals with droopy tips. Leaves are arranged into a symmetrical crown that is about 8 to 10 feet wide. Specimens grown in full sun and/or under poor conditions may have much smaller, more compact crowns.