Double Headed Triangle Palm

[Swatelski]

Anyone ever seen a Double Headed Triangle Palm? I recently pruned a severely overgrown Triangle Palm on my property, that revealed it has 2 fully frown heads sitting atop a single 8 foot tall trunk.

 

here’s the image:

 

Edited June 23, 2022 by Swatelski

[James B]

Holy guacamole!

[GottmitAlex]

Wowowow!!!!!!!

 

[aztropic]

Very cool!

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

[The Gerg]

That’s a first for me with this palm. Nice discovery.

[Johnny Palmseed]

So you didn’t know it was a double until you cleaned it up?

[Palmarum]

Neato!

That palm has a story. Not sure what, but something happened. It has the same Resurrection Fern on the lower truck that mine hosts. That fern must like the trunk of a Triangle.

Ryan

[Tracy]

55 minutes ago, Palmarum said:

Not sure what, but something happened.

I concur, have to wonder what.

 

19 hours ago, Swatelski said:

I recently pruned a severely overgrown Triangle Palm on my property,

I'm guessing you are in Florida???  Was it hit by lightning at one point or did it have another trauma? 

[Swatelski]

2 hours ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

So you didn’t know it was a double until you cleaned it up?

Correct. We bought the house about 18 months ago, and it was overgrown then. By the time I finally got around to cleaning it up, I could barely make out that it was actually a triangle Palm.

[Swatelski]

56 minutes ago, Tracy said:

I concur, have to wonder what.

 

I'm guessing you are in Florida???  Was it hit by lightning at one point or did it have another trauma? 

Yes, South Florida. I spoke to the previous owner of the house, and she would prune the tree herself about once a year up until about 4 years ago when she was no longer able to get up on the roof to reach the back side. She said she never noticed it growing 2 heads, nor did she ever notice damage. I suspect it was hit by lightning at some point after she stopped pruning it, and she never paid close enough attention to what was going in.

[D Palm]

About as crazy as a double headed cow. Thanks for sharing!

[Johnny Palmseed]

I always question the multi head/lightning theory. When I have seen palms get hit by lightning, it has been catastrophic. Obviously, I have only seen a few. But the ones I have seen have died rapidly. I even saw one catch on fire. This one was a Washingtonia at a neighbors house that died after the strike.

[Swatelski]

9 hours ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

I always question the multi head/lightning theory. When I have seen palms get hit by lightning, it has been catastrophic. Obviously, I have only seen a few. But the ones I have seen have died rapidly. I even saw one catch on fire. This one was a Washingtonia at a neighbors house that died after the strike.

Is that a split all the way down the trunk?

[Johnny Palmseed]

Yes and you can see all the debris that was blown off.

[D Palm]

I also doubt it was lightning. When they hit Slash Pines around here it explodes, splits or the trunk collapses. I did see one catch fire briefly, but died. It was dead for a while. Then it fell over due to trunk failure during hurricane Matthew. Lightning is drawn to highest point above canopy, that palm is not high in the sky reducing the odds of a lightning strike.

still an awesome pic.

[Billy]

That's a first for me! What a pleasant discovery! Now I wanna see a triple headed one.....