Palm Trees

The first thought that likely comes to mind when we think of palm trees is vacation (Which is something I could definitely use right now), and for good reason. Most Palm trees are only located in tropical and warm climates such as Hawaii or the Bahamas ; the dream vacation spots of thousands upon thousands of individuals. Thus, the palm tree is associated with vacationing and relaxation. But aside from the obvious, here's a few interesting facts about palm trees that you likely didn't know.

Palm tree roots are very unique in comparison to your average tree. The roots are much thinner than that of an oak tree, but there's a ridiculous amount of these tiny roots stepping below the palm tree.

If you were to try and dig a hole next to a palm tree, it's unlikely you would succeed since the roots are packed so tightly together. Essentially, the roots, although they are much thinner than the average root system, are impenetrable. Have you ever seen an uprooted palm tree? No? That's alright, not too many people have. The root system of the palm tree allows the tree to withstand hurricanes, tornadoes,  and floods without toppling over. This is also why the palm tree is one of the most popular types of trees in tropical areas, since it can withstand the many tropical storms thrown their way. If a tropical storm somehow hit a forest of pine trees,  there wouldn't be many surviving trees (if any).

Now that we've gotten that rooted into our minds (pun intended), lets discuss the remarkable age of some types of palm trees. The most remarkable palm tree in regards to life span is the Canary Island Palm, which can live up to 120 years old! It's really not too hard to believe once you take into consideration the rooting structure of the palm tree discussed earlier. The roots of a tree are essential to the life of the tree, so if the tree has good roots, it will probably have a healthy life, such as a lifespan of 120 years. On the other end of the spectrum, however, there are certain types of palm trees than can have a very short lifespan, such as the Bamboo Palm which only lives about 4 years. The Bamboo palm is different than most other types of palm trees though, and doesn't nearly have the same type of root system as the types I was referring to when discussing the crazy root system of palm trees. But whether it's long or short, it's remarkable how large of a gap there is between the lifespan of these different types of palm trees.

There are probably a few more things that could be discussed on palm trees, but for now we'll leave it at those two incredible facts. For more interesting information on trees and such, you can visit treespeak101.com. For a direct link to an interesting article about what you probably don't know about apple seeds, check out http://lmoyer92.hubpages.com/hub/The-Apple-Seed. Thanks for reading!