When Palms Want To Be Aquatic

[Jim in Los Altos]

Today I cleared out copious amounts of water hyacinths because I got tired of them and their invasive manor. This made visible a number of roots from three Archontophoenix palms (cunninghamiana, purpurea, and alexandrae) that are adventurously growing into the pond adjacent to them. The same thing happened to a group of Washingtonia that were growing in the black muck next to a natural pond I had at my previous property.

Have any of you noticed this on your gardens or in nature?

Aquatic roots and in the second picture, seedlings pop up in the water too.

The palms in question

[John Case]

The Washingtonias are a puzzle.....unless you withhold water totally, I guess....

[Jim in Los Altos]

The Washingtonias are a puzzle.....unless you withhold water totally, I guess....

There's a W. robusta growing right in the middle of a pond/small lake a few miles from me whose base is several feet under water most of the year and it is very healthy. I never would have thought it possible except that the ones on my previous property were in year long wet heavy clay as well as partially in water.

[_Keith]

I have found that Washy robustas can't get enough water. I have one near the bayou that has been submerged multiple times during hurricane surges, once for nearly 2 weeks. It seems to enjoy it. I can definitely see them sending roots to standing water.

[John Case]

and yet they get rotted out so easily, at least when hey are small.....

[redbeard917]

Kinda hard to tell in this pic, but there are Sabals growing submerged in this stream. Hillsborough River State Park.

[_Keith]

And Jim, with your abundant fish, that is also some very fertile water, full of nutrients.

[Alicehunter2000]

Used to have a queen near one of those plastic shelled water features/ponds ..... masses of roots would find their way up and over the lip of the pond and tap into the water.

[Jim in Los Altos]

I also have a big Parajubaea torallyi whose roots have "spilled" into the pond on the opposite side from the Archontophoenix. They crept right under a filter fed waterfall and into the top few inches of pond water. There's no soil or clay in that area so the roots are just suspended in water. I think in a well aerated pond or any body of water that is not stagnant, there's sufficient oxygen and the roots flourish. Palms that rot and die in water are typically the ones sitting in rancid smelly still water.

[Josh-O]

Jim and Keith, there is a grove of washies growing in the middle of a creek bed down the street from my house. They are in water 24-7 365 and seem to love it. The little fish take cover from the bigger fish under the root mats. Pretty cool...

Jim- since the archies are sucking up ton of water have the trunks cracked or split from the fast growth rate? My neighbor over waters his and they started to crack real bad

[Jim in Los Altos]

Jim and Keith, there is a grove of washies growing in the middle of a creek bed down the street from my house. They are in water 24-7 365 and seem to love it. The little fish take cover from the bigger fish under the root mats. Pretty cool...

Jim- since the archies are sucking up ton of water have the trunks cracked or split from the fast growth rate? My neighbor over waters his and they started to crack real bad

No Josh. I have random splitting on a few of my A. cunninghamiana but the only pattern I see is that the cracks all seem to be on the southwest sides of the effected trunks so it may be a hot sun related phenomenon. I have a few really robust ones on my side yard that have put several feet of growth on their trunks per year and their trunks are fat and completely unblemished.

[SailorBold]

I need to mimic this somehow.

[Tropicgardener]

Those Archontophoenix almost look like they are growing in their natural habitat. Here they grow along and in the streams and during the wet season they are completely inundated.......the seedlings even grow ok completely underwater.

[tropicbreeze]

Even Livistona mariae (or L. rigida var mariae, whatever the latest is) although a desert palm, in habitat mostly grows sitting in water. Some of the young palms grow partially submerged. A lot of other species of Livistona in habitat spend several months a year continuously in water.

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Even Livistona mariae (or L. rigida var mariae, whatever the latest is) although a desert palm, in habitat mostly grows sitting in water. Some of the young palms grow partially submerged. A lot of other species of Livistona in habitat spend several months a year continuously in water.

Yes, I once mistakenly thought many of the Aussie Livistonas were desert plants. Whoops! Now I know they like their feet in the water and heads in the sun, just like Phoenix dactylifera.