Silver Palm

Location

Palm Walk Garden

Coccothrinax argentata

  • Common Name: Silverpalm (other common names: Thatchpalm)
  • Scientific Name: Coccothrinax argentata
  • Family Name: Arecaceae
  • Origin: native to Florida and North America
  • Height: 6’ – 15’ but can get up to 20’
  • Width: 6’ – 10’ spread
  • Growth: Slow growing (Germination is about 6 weeks, younger plants may grow more quickly to about 2 feet in a couple of years, but then growth slows.)
  • Zone: 10B – 11
  • Light Needs: Full sun – Partial shade
  • Salt Tolerance:  Low – Salt Water Tolerance is Low, it does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water. Salt Wind Tolerance is High, this tree can tolerate moderate amounts of salt wind without injury.
  • Soil/PH/Texture: not fussy about soil – clay, loam, or sand. Alkaline – Acidic (it can grow in nutrient poor soils, or soils with some organic content.)
  • Soil Moisture: moderate watering but likes well drained soil.
  • Drought Tolerance: High
  • Pests/Diseases: free of any serious pests or diseases.
  • Growing Conditions: low maintenance and easy to grow.
  • Characteristics: The slender silver palm has distinctive dark blue-green, drooping, delicate, deeply divided palmate leaves that are star-shaped which have a beautiful silver color beneath and are spiral in arrangement. The 6-inch-wide trunk is either smooth and grey and is usually covered with woven, burlap-like fiber. The small, white flowers are borne in profusion on 2-foot-long stalks, hidden among the leaves during the summer. The small, round, purple fruits ripen in late summer and fall and are about .5” in length.
  • Propagation: by seed
  • Wildlife: The larval host plant for monk skipper (Asbolis capucinus) butterflies and Birds eat the fruit from the trees.
  • Facts: unknown
  • Designer Considerations: for use at a residence it makes a good deck or patio tree in a planter or container, or use as a specimen, or a nice accent in a shrub border.
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