How to measure height of a palm

[Trópico]

Most of us refer to a palm's overall height very frequently in this forum. Measuring a palm is something apparently simple but I have stopped to think and in reality it is a vague concept to me at best. From where to where do we measure a palm?

Is it from: the base of the trunk (where the roots begin), or ground level (think a palm with stilt roots or where the ground does not cover the roots completely)...?

Is it to: the tip of the spear (fully extended), the highest point of the highest leaf, the growing point, where the petioles meet, or the center of mass of the crown, etc...?

If someone can enlighten me a little bit I would appreciate it!

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Frank,

In my experience there are several ways used to measure palms. Each is valid as long as the buyer and seller agree to the definitions. All measurements are from ground level.

Overall Height- This is measured to the height of the fully extended mature last frond. A mature frond is bent over so it is often 3'-5' less than measuring to the tip of the spear.

Actual height- Often used on very expensive and rare palms, this measures right up to the tippy top of the spear.

Wood or Gray Wood- This measures to the point where the woody trunk touches the bottom of the crownshaft. Used on Royals all the time. It is very accurate and not a subjective height. It is not alterred much by growing in shade where the fronds elongate.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

All measurements are from ground level.

Not so everytime... Sometimes O.A. measurements include the entire height of a potted palm (from the bottom of the container to the top of the spear/leaf).

This measuring thing is almost obnoxious as keeping up with binomial nomenclature.

[LilikoiLee]

Thanks for both the question and the answer which clarified things for me.

Lee

[Walter John]

There is a way of doing this. Now let me think. Okay, that's right, you need two people for this method, just confirmed on the web.

One person stands at the base of the tree and the second person walks away from the tree until the height from base to tree top matches the length of a pen or pencil when held vertically up to the eye.

Without altering the distance between pencil and the eye, turn the pencil horizontally, lining up along the ground, with one end at the base of the tree.

The person at the base of the tree then walks away from the tree until he / she is standing at the end of the pencil. Measure the distance form the person to the base of the tree.

This equals approximately the height of the tree.

[Kathryn]

I think Wal's method should be the standard adopted by all.

[Kim]

This might be difficult to achieve in uneven topography, dense jungle, or next to a cliff, waterfall, or river. Is there another way?

[DoomsDave]

As a vet of the marketing wars, I belive that Jerry's method is the best if you can literally put a tape and measure the palm. For potted palms, I say "Height, planted" meaning from ground level.