What is or are your biggest palm(s)? This includes outdoors and indoors, overall height, crown width, trunk thickness, whatever.

In my case one contendah’ is my large Roystonea oleracea, purchased as a fiver from Mardy Darian back around 2010. About forty five feet tall. 

I’ve got more, but show us some of yours!

The late Richard Douglas and Inge Hoffmann, two of my palm mentors,  (Richard was more than six feet tall)

then three images of my Ceroxylon quindiuense.     I don't feel confident about estimating height, but I believe it to have about 35 feet of clean trunk below the leafbases.   (10.6 m )

My tallest is probably a Caryota Urens but it is hard to tell from the ground . It is the only palm that outpaces the Syagrus Romanzoffiana’s . The largest by volume is the Butia Oderata on my hill, it has a very large trunk and has many large fronds ( not a palm for small gardens). The largest single frond is the Caryota Obtusa , the fronds are huge . Harry

‘Caryota Urens, with a partial view of the C. Obtusa . I’m not sure if the Washingtonia Robusta down my hill is taller , 

Caryota Obtusa single frond!

‘This was about a year ago , even larger now by just a bit. It is not a palm I would like to have near my house or in a small backyard. I am glad I put this one on the hill . They look manageable when they are young but grow to be quite large. 
‘The Butia as seen from our deck. Harry

Mine was this foxtail with the Southern CA Edison haircut, before SCE cut it down..

Butch

Size is most definitely "relative".  I just took this photo showing what I see when I walk past my most finished area of the yard. The Flamethrower (a palm I bought at a large size to get some "instant gratification") dominates the grouping...

But if you step back a few feet (and look up) all of these palms are dwarfed by the two Caryota obtusa/gigas which are fully mature, and are the only palms remaining from the original landscaping. Caryota obtusa/gigas are already huge, but are EXTRA large when compared against a young garden...

Harry, you must have a splendid view from your deck ! 

Darold, those images are off the charts! Monster mania.

Tim

Not mine but a massive Borassus flabelifer:

Not mine but 40 foot plus Thrinax radiata:

ALl the taller palms have a hurricane haircut now from Milton(110mph gusts).  Nothing too tall in my yard, a couple royals 40-45 feet tall estimate but there are some pretty thick trunks.  Its tough to estimate height that tall.  But the smooth trunks are 26-30 feet and crownshafts are 6 1/2 feet.  That leaves leaves and spear extending past 31 feet(smaller one) and 36 feet(larger one).  I estimate leaves/spear extend 10' + past top of crownshaft.  The  royal trunks are a bit more slim down low with some coke bottling up around 15-20 feet or so.  First pic is the taller one which is more slim in trunk by 3" perhaps.  The fence is 7'

The smaller one is near a hose bib and got more water, a bit less sun.  Down low its 27" thick next to the 30" wide chair(viewed straight on).  It appears to bulge a bit, perhaps 3-4".  Here is the bottom 20 feet of trunk with chair for scale.

These are my tallest palms and the heaviest trunks(25' to 30' of trunk weighs several tons.  They are not the thickest trunked palms down low.  That would be sabal causiarum at about 42-44" bulge down low this is the thickest trunked palm down low.

My favorite trunk is the concrete pillar looking trunk of copernicia fallaensis.  It does not taper at 28-29" thick last time I measured the perimeter(2piR) with a tape last year.  The causiarum tapers notably, fallaensis does not taper thus far.  It is notably thicker than the causiarum at 10 feet above ground as the causiarum trunk tapers to 24" or so at that height.

And last but not least is the fastest tapering palm, beccariophoenix alfredii, about 32" thick at the base but rapidly tapering.  I also like the undulations on the clean trunk.  I have never cut leaf bases off all these palms, they are naturally shedding.

 

Alfredii trunk base

 

And the overall of alfredii showing the rapid tapering of trunk.  Alfredii seems to recover well from hurricane but it still has the comb over effect of asymetry.  Funny alfredii looks like my best recovering palm right now but we haven't hit the wet season yet when everything grows a lot faster..  

I learned a less from Milton, damage was more a function of height than species.  The tallest were the most damaged.

 

Not my tallest palm (Washingtonia) but my biggest surprise for speed of growth is my Butia odorata.

My biggest disappointment is Leucothrinax morrisii which died suddenly last fall for no reason.

My biggest seed producer is Livistona chinensis.

It would have to be my Caryota maxima towering above the gum trees. It really took off once it broke through the canopy. 

6 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

Harry, you must have a splendid view from your deck ! 

Thank you , yes , we still pinch ourselves . On the view side of the house we had the wall replaced by stackable glass sliders to take full advantage. Our main bedroom is on the view side as well . After 28 years , it never gets old! Harry

3 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

They are not the thickest trunked palms down low.  That would be sabal causiarum at about 42-44" bulge down low this is the thickest trunked palm down low.

Do you have more pics of your S. causiarum? How long ago was it planted? How big is the crown? How close is it to the house? I want to know everything. 

The Copernicia fallaensis grown by Sonorafans is amazing!

Keep ‘em coming!

If your garden is just starting show us what you’ve got so far!

@James B show us some of yours!

Not mine and I posted these before. Largest and oldest group of Syagrus schizophylla I have ever seen:

Another:

Spindly Bob right now. I did have a Queen on my patio in Texas that must have been 8 or 9 feet tall, I had to lean it at an angle when I brought it in for freezes. I'm not really sure what happened, I think it snapped in a windstorm. 

10 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Spindly Bob right now. I did have a Queen on my patio in Texas that must have been 8 or 9 feet tall, I had to lean it at an angle when I brought it in for freezes. I'm not really sure what happened, I think it snapped in a windstorm. 

That’s the spirit!

I know others have similar indoor container ranches.

17 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

@James B show us some of yours!

Ha! Mine are all babies by comparison and my tallest were thrashed by 100 plus mph winds in January and haven’t yet recovered lol. But I’ll see what I can do.

Here’s my tall Archontophoenix maxima. 
 

8 hours ago, James B said:

Ha! Mine are all babies by comparison and my tallest were thrashed by 100 plus mph winds in January and haven’t yet recovered lol. But I’ll see what I can do.

Yeah, you got the wind but missed the other bad stuff. 

In my new garden which is still quite young this A.Maxima is the tallest palm that isn’t tattered up. I have a Roystonea that is a bit taller but is crispy and waiting for the new spear to open.

1 hour ago, James B said:

In my new garden which is still quite young this A.Maxima is the tallest palm that isn’t tattered up. I have a Roystonea that is a bit taller but is crispy and waiting for the new spear to open.

Brotha thanks for sharing!

Glad to see you still hanging in there. A season of hood growing and your garden’ll be glorious again!

In terms of overall mass this B.Alfredii wins. Already close to 12 ft wide. Block wall behind it is 8 feet tall. In a different of the garden I have an A.Tuckeri that is about 11-12 ft tall next to its A.Purpurea hybrid wingman.

On 4/23/2025 at 1:44 PM, Darold Petty said:

The late Richard Douglas and Inge Hoffmann, two of my palm mentors,  (Richard was more than six feet tall)

then three images of my Ceroxylon quindiuense.     I don't feel confident about estimating height, but I believe it to have about 35 feet of clean trunk below the leafbases.   (10.6 m )

oh my god, those trunk spaces.  foooh

 My garden is still young, but this was my first and biggest palm planted from a small 7g 3.5 years ago. Arch. Cunninghamiana that has been through 2 hurricanes, 2 tropical storms and 2 freezes. 

My white triangle is about 25' tall now

Largest Hurricane palm that I know of in this area (Mother-in-law's):

On 4/23/2025 at 4:15 PM, sonoranfans said:

ALl the taller palms have a hurricane haircut now from Milton(110mph gusts).  Nothing too tall in my yard, a couple royals 40-45 feet tall estimate but there are some pretty thick trunks.  Its tough to estimate height that tall.  But the smooth trunks are 26-30 feet and crownshafts are 6 1/2 feet.  That leaves leaves and spear extending past 31 feet(smaller one) and 36 feet(larger one).  I estimate leaves/spear extend 10' + past top of crownshaft.  The  royal trunks are a bit more slim down low with some coke bottling up around 15-20 feet or so.  First pic is the taller one which is more slim in trunk by 3" perhaps.  The fence is 7'

The smaller one is near a hose bib and got more water, a bit less sun.  Down low its 27" thick next to the 30" wide chair(viewed straight on).  It appears to bulge a bit, perhaps 3-4".  Here is the bottom 20 feet of trunk with chair for scale.

These are my tallest palms and the heaviest trunks(25' to 30' of trunk weighs several tons.  They are not the thickest trunked palms down low.  That would be sabal causiarum at about 42-44" bulge down low this is the thickest trunked palm down low.

My favorite trunk is the concrete pillar looking trunk of copernicia fallaensis.  It does not taper at 28-29" thick last time I measured the perimeter(2piR) with a tape last year.  The causiarum tapers notably, fallaensis does not taper thus far.  It is notably thicker than the causiarum at 10 feet above ground as the causiarum trunk tapers to 24" or so at that height.

And last but not least is the fastest tapering palm, beccariophoenix alfredii, about 32" thick at the base but rapidly tapering.  I also like the undulations on the clean trunk.  I have never cut leaf bases off all these palms, they are naturally shedding.

 

Alfredii trunk base

 

And the overall of alfredii showing the rapid tapering of trunk.  Alfredii seems to recover well from hurricane but it still has the comb over effect of asymetry.  Funny alfredii looks like my best recovering palm right now but we haven't hit the wet season yet when everything grows a lot faster..  

I learned a less from Milton, damage was more a function of height than species.  The tallest were the most damaged.

 

How old are the royals? 

12 hours ago, Bkue said:

How old are the royals? 

I dont know.  I bought them in spring 2011 with 3-4' clean trunk($160 each).  They have grown 25'+/- of trunk in 15 years.  They have been mostly defoliated by hurricanes in 2017 and in 2024.  I am not sure that these (and some of my other carribean palms) dont grow faster after a hurricane event.  I guess more height is needed to grow more leaves and the palm might adjust growth sensing the lack of leaves.

Here’s my biggest Cocothrinax fragrans.

About 8 feet or 2.6 M tall.

Here’s my biggest Chrysalidocarpus (Dypsis) plumosa, about 12 feet 4 M tall.

Here’s my biggest chambeyronia houaliou (or however you spell that)!