Editing Pseudophoenix sargentii (section)

===General:===
(Contributed by Ken Johnson)
Popular with south Florida folks
because they are native and unique.
When the seed is mature it is bright red, turning an average
looking palm into a striking one. Their native (Florida) habitat
is an island off the coast South of Miami but there historic
distribution was even more widespread. They were found in the
Keys south of the mainland too. All these palms were lost due to
wild collecting and development. Some homes still have grand
old specimens in their yards in the Keys.

Another interesting fact is that they are not closely related
to any other palm (except the other species). They were thought
to be related to Wax palms from South America but an inspection
of their genes found hundreds of matched pairs of chromosomes,
something rare in both the palnt and animal kingdoms!

When young, the leaves are disticate (in one plane) and another unusual
thing about the Cherry Palm is that they hold one two or three seeds in
one fruit. And last but not least they are about as salt and wind toleant
as any palm. They can be found with their roots IN salt water in the Bahamas.
These plants are very stunted and produce fruit at only a few feet tall.
They may have only a foot of wood and be skinny as 2-3 inches!

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[[File:Pseudophoenix_sargentii02.jpg|frame|Figure 2. ''P. sargentii'' at a resort on Ambergris Key in Belize.]]
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[[File:Pseudophoenix_sargentii03.jpg|frame|Figure 3. ''P. sargentii'' close-up of the crown]]
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[[File:Pseudophoenix_sargentii04.jpg|frame|Figure 4. ''P. sargentii'', Ambergris Key.]]
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