Royal Palm Swaying In The Breeze

[Valhallalla]

We visited Fakahatchee Strand again on Saturday (just can't stay away) and made our way as far as one can drive up Jane's Scenic Drive. My wife asked me about the identity of a palm that appeared a bit different than the others. Of course it is a Roystonea regia as we were in the midst of the largest stand of native Royal palms in Florida. However, this one stood out because it is very tall and also has a particularly skinny trunk. We have been to this spot many times but for some reason I had never taken notice of this palm before. As we sat there enjoying the wonderful afternoon I couldn't help watching this palm off in the distance swaying in the wind like no Royal I have ever seen before. I generally think of Royals as having solid fat trunks that don't budge but you would think this one was a tall Coconut, Washingtonia or Veitchia the way it moved around. I have seen somewhere around a bazillion Royal palms over the years and don't recall ever seeing one get pushed around by the wind like this one. I shot a couple of short videos on my phone:

 

[Kim]

I wonder what happened to that broken-off trunk in the left foreground? It looks like a palm trunk, yes?

[Valhallalla]

Yes, that is the dead trunk of a Royal palm. No idea what happened to it. A lightning strike is a very real possibility here. Things are left to go on their own here as most of the work is done by volunteers so that trunk won't be removed unless it causes a problem. A dead palm trunk can persist for some time.

In the same area there are two other palms with huge sections of their trunks missing that I suspect are the result of lightning mainly because I can't think of any other cause. Other than the damaged trunks they look perfectly normal. Here is one of them with another dead trunk next to it:

[palmsOrl]

Will that royal with the damaged trunk survive long-term like that?

[Valhallalla]

Who knows? If you view only the undamaged part of the palm it looks perfectly normal. Apparently there are still enough vascular bundles to conduct needed amounts water and nutrients to the growing point for now. I suppose it would be more susceptible in a windstorm as it is missing half of its trunk.

This kind of injury seems to be a common thing among Royals. I spotted this severely damaged one in the Redland area a month ago. As you can see it is happily flowering and fruiting. To add insult to injury it appears that the base has been driven into more than once as well.