Rhapidophyllum

Needle palm ( Rhapidophyllum hystrix )

The needle palm ( Rhapidophyllum hystrix ) is a dwarf palm species whose natural range is located in the southeastern United States, in Florida and southern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

Features

The needle palm tree remains small, slow growing and forms multi-stemmed clumps at the age often. The very short stem is more than a meter high and is of dark fiber and long knitting needle -like prickles. It can reach a diameter of eight to ten centimeters. Their leaves are fan-shaped, on top of dark green and glossy, and on the bottom a little silvery. The petiole is spineless and is 0.5 to 1.7 meters long. The entire tuft of leaves may comprise 10 to 30 leaves and reach a diameter of 2.5 meters. The needle palm is dioecious, their seeds are round to oval and 1 to 1.5 inches tall.

Habitat

The needle palm tree grows mainly in understory deciduous forests on moist, humus-rich loam and sandy soils. In the northern regions of its range, there is still a continental climate with winter cold snaps and short severe frosts. In the coastal areas of its range, however, the climate is mild. Their natural resources are threatened by small and increasing population. Since its inflorescences are very short, most seeds germinate close to the parent plant and die after a short time.

Use

Needle palms are considered the most cold- resistant of palm trees at all and to low temperatures can endure -14 to -24 ° C. Therefore, they are in the United States as far north as New York and Washington DC used as ornamental plants in Europe are still largely unknown.