Acoelorrhaphe wrightii

Synonyms:

Paurotis wrightii, P. androsana, Acanthosabal caespitosa

Common Names:

Paurotis Palm,
Silver Saw Palmetto,
Everglades Palm

Figure 1. Acoelorrhaphe wrightii showing the silvery, fan shaped leaves

Habitat:

Moist, sandy soil, often swamps (usually coastal), around the Caribbean coast from Florida to the West Indies.

Description:

A very attractive clumping plant, with distinctive silvery fan leaves, and a fibrous sheath around the trunk. If given the right conditions, (sun, water, and warmth) it can form a very large clump, several metres across, and up to about 5 metres high.

General:

This is a very ornamental plant, and quite a quick grower, but because of the size that it can reach, it is usually best planted in open spaces (unless you're quite handy with a pruning saw to lop out the occasional trunk).

Culture:

Full sun, and lots of water (likes to be able to get into ground water). Also reasonably cold tolerant.

Figure 2. Acoelorrhaphe wrightii stem detail

Contributed by:

University of Florida-IFAS (Figures 1&2)

External Links:

Kew, PalmWeb, eMonocot, JSTOR, Trebrown, PhotoMazza

Google, Google Images, Flickr, PalmTalk