Keys Thatch Palm, Brittle Broom Palm
Location
Palm Walk Garden
- Common Name: Keys Thatch Palm (other common names: Brittle Broom)
- Scientific Name: Leucothrinax morrisii
- Family Name: Arecaceae
- Origin: native to the Florida Keys, West Indies, Bahamas, and Caribbean
- Height: 20’ – 35’
- Width: 8’ – 12’
- Growth: slow
- Zone: 10B – 11
- Light Needs: Full sun – Partial shade
- Salt Tolerance: high
- Soil/PH/Texture: prefers clay, sand, or loam soils alkaline – acidic that is well drained
- Soil Moisture: average water needs, likes consistently moist soil if possible but can withstand drought
- Drought Tolerance: high
- Pests/Diseases: free of any serious diseases or pests
- Growing Conditions: easy to grow and low maintenance
- Characteristics: Grown for the foliage the fronds of this palm dark green – blue on top and are a silver/white underneath that shimmers, arranged alternately, simple, fan-shaped, 18” – 24” in length on a top of a slender and smooth trunk. It has white/yellow spring-time flowers that appear in clusters of panicles, 3’ – 5’ long and are insignificant, followed by round, small, fleshy yellow and white fruits that are ¼” – ½” in length.
- Propagation: by seed
- Wildlife: it furnishes food and cover for wildlife; the fruit pulp is eaten in Florida by the introduced Mexican Red-Bellied Squirrel and the Eastern Box Turtle and in the Bahamas by the Bahamas Amazon Parrot.
- Facts: The leaves are still used to make brooms, thatch, and mats. Its fruit pulp contains oxalate making it capable of causing a burning sensation on the skin of sensitive people.
- Designer Considerations: use as a container plant for a patio or deck, as a specimen, plant in groups of 3 as an accent plant, in a bed with low-growing ground cover, street tree, or on a highway median. Because of it being highly salt tolerant it is great for beachfront property.
