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Why do some palms lose leaves and others don't?


HeatherC

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Why do some palms loose their leaves and others don't? Is it only fan palms that don't? Is there any  benefit for keeping their leaves? I can't find an answer on the internet and even tried reading research papers. There are alot of palms in my neighborhood and I just wondered. 
 Speculation and guesses are welcome! 
Thanks 

Heather

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Great question! I never thought about that. Maybe its as simple as evolutionary need? Maybe self cleaning palms lived in an environment where it was necessary due to moisture causing fungus or disease due to extra fronds and non cleaning palms growing in dry climates where that isn't an issue? It could also be due to reproductive need. A lot of self cleaning palms flower and seed from their trunks where a lot of non cleaning palms flower from their crown. These are just complete guesses though. 

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1 minute ago, HtownPalms said:

Great question! I never thought about that. Maybe its as simple as evolutionary need? Maybe self cleaning palms lived in an environment where it was necessary due to moisture causing fungus or disease due to extra fronds and non cleaning palms growing in dry climates where that isn't an issue? It could also be due to reproductive need. A lot of self cleaning palms flower and seed from their trunks where a lot of non cleaning palms flower from their crown. These are just complete guesses though. 

Evolutionary need is the most likely answer.. In a wet, tropical environment, there is no need to hang onto a coat of old foliage.. In fact, it would likely create more issues ( extra moisture under such a thick layer creating an ideal place for fungal/bacterial infections to settle in ) Where as in some place much drier, that extra coat of leaves would provide shade to the trunk from intense summer sun, or help keep it warmer during extreme cold. Less humidity in drier places would also reduce the potential for bacterial/fungal issues if a palm held onto dead foliage as well.

 

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22 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Evolutionary need is the most likely answer.. In a wet, tropical environment, there is no need to hang onto a coat of old foliage.. In fact, it would likely create more issues ( extra moisture under such a thick layer creating an ideal place for fungal/bacterial infections to settle in ) Where as in some place much drier, that extra coat of leaves would provide shade to the trunk from intense summer sun, or help keep it warmer during extreme cold. Less humidity in drier places would also reduce the potential for bacterial/fungal issues if a palm held onto dead foliage as well.

 

this has been my thought as well

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"it's not dead it's sleeping"

Santee ca, zone10a/9b

18 miles from the ocean

avg. winter 68/40.avg summer 88/64.records 113/25

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  • 3 weeks later...

Interesting topic. There likely is an evolutionary reason but sometimes things evolve for no apparent reason. Since palms are not “warm blooded” a skirt of leaves offers little to no temperature advantage in the cold. They could offer some heat protection by shading the trunk from direct sun but even that hasn’t been proven since Washingtonia, for instance, grow equally well in the hot desert with a skirt as they do with a clean trunk regardless of whether the old leaves  fell on their own or were removed by humans. 

It’s also variable with some palms. I have Syagrus romanzoffiana that shed older leaves cleanly before they brown and others that hold onto several old fronds for instance. With the groves of big Archontophoenix in my yard, hearing the whoosh of a falling frond and crownshaft is common year round as is the thud a heavy Rhopalostylis frond makes when detaching and falling away from the trunk. There are many cool climate leaf shedding palms as well as tropical ones and many cool climate and tropical palms that hold onto their dead leaves. 

Edited by Jim in Los Altos

Jim in Los Altos, CA  SF Bay Area 37.34N- 122.13W- 190' above sea level

zone 10a/9b

sunset zone 16

300+ palms, 90+ species in the ground

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many fan palms just take longer to start shedding in my yard.   Livistonas I thought didnt shed, saw 3/4 species of mine shed to smooth trunks.  Bismarckias of course shed, some sabals also shed.   All my copernicias self shed, even alba(though it took 10' of trunk before it started to shed.  As far as it being evolutionary perhaps, and the dead leaf bases do protect the bud area as insulators in shorter cold events.  Shedding here depends on the rotting of the dead leafbase by microbes, I expect.  In dry areas leafbases may be more persistent as microbes arent as proflific.  Some pinnate palms don't shed, like some phoenix so its not a fan feather palm thing.  But feather palms that come from tropical areas mostly shed from an early age.  My only fan palms that have not shown they self shed are serenoa repens and livistona saribus which still has only 3' of trunk so the jury is out.  Of my feather palms, beccariophoenix alfredii, phoenix rupicola show no sign of self shedding at ~ 13 years old(from seed estimated) but time will tell.

Formerly in Gilbert AZ, zone 9a/9b. Now in Palmetto, Florida Zone 9b/10a??

 

Tom Blank

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Sorry Heather I forgot to welcome you to palmtalk!  Welcome to Palmtalk!  Wherever you live, someone here will have some good knowledge about what grows best in your area.

Formerly in Gilbert AZ, zone 9a/9b. Now in Palmetto, Florida Zone 9b/10a??

 

Tom Blank

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