Inside of a Palm Tree

Growing out from the stem are those called adventitious roots.

These roots begin growing out at their full width. As you'll learn about the trunk, palm roots don't have secondary growth. The initial girth is as wide as they'll ever get.

They branch to three levels, though. Each somewhat thinner than the one before.

Palm roots can spread outward widely. They anchor the palm firmly in the ground. Yet compared to woody trees, palm roots are somewhat shallow.

Unlike a palm above ground, roots can regrow.

• If cut when transplanted. New roots form above the cut.
• The Root Initiation Zone can regenerate adventitious roots.

Undermined Roots Visible in These Toppled Over Palm
By a Shoreline

Some palms develop roots above the soil.

• Stilt roots are a palm support system in some that grow in tropical rain forests.

Iriartea deltoide Palm's Prop Roots Develop Over Time
Not Seen When It's Young.

• The Root Initiation Zone extends into view on some Date Palms. As they age, aerial root stubs can be seen at the trunk's bottom.

Aerial roots begin emerging on some palm species when they're older.

Palms grow with a single treelike trunk (also called stems). But also they can take a shrub-like form, with many trunks coming from the roots.

Surprising to many, trunks can grow vine-like. Climbing upward using another plant for anchoring.

Only the genera Hyphaene & Nypa produce branching trunks.

Whichever way they grow, the inside of a palm tree trunk will be the same. Although there are many styles to the trunk's outer covering. Which is not bark.

Palms aren't actually true trees. Their trunk functions are quite different from woody trees of forests & meadows. Like an oak, birch or spruce. These have an inner network to get their nourishment. Compared to blood vessel networks in humans.

Palms Don't Have These Pathways.

Instead there are separate bundled parts of the palm tree. They're scattered through the trunks & stems. These bundles use conductive tissues & tons of separate vascular strands. They transport water & nutrients throughout the plant.

This uniquely palmy system inside of a palm tree is its lifeblood.

GROWING UP

With aging, inside of a palm tree trunk gets more solidly strong at the edges.

• Palms don't increase their trunk width by growing new wood, as secondary growth. In other words, they don't get thicker by forming yearly growth rings.
• As they age, all stems (trunks) basically stay the width they first grew to.

1. Only sometimes, trunk bulges happen by swelling of individual inner cells. Or cell shrinking resulting from lengthy inadequate weather. 
2. Changes in trunk width aren't caused by adding new cells.

Jubaea chilensis (Syrup Palm)
Can Top Off at 78' Tall
Like this one at Pisa Botanic Garden.

NOURISHMENT EFFECTS

As a Monocot Palm, the little nourishment packs that grow inside of the palm tree trunk are a finite number. So...

• Once the palm gets to its highest at maturity, no more are supplied.

1. They can't multiply. Inside of a palm tree trunk, the plant won't produce any more.
2. And if damaged & die, there is no method to repair or replace them. 

Hardened cells are left over from the bases of previously shed fronds.
Forming a Palm's Outer Protective Layer, That's Not Bark.

These leaf stems are tube-like inside & have walls strengthened with masses of fibers.

• To endure weather stresses of the palm. While carrying water & nutrients to leaf tissues.
• Needed nourishment arrives at the palm's blade. With conducting tissues to supply food factories there. 
• Using sun energy for photosynthesis. Which creates carbohydrates to nurture continued growth in the palm. Making flowers & fruit.

Most palm flowers are extremely small, with muted coloring. They all grow out on an inflorescence. Which is the usually long & branched stalk for all the palm's flowers. Which are almost always closely set together. That's how palm flowers can look flashy.

The structure of inflorescences can help with Palm Identification. More details of the inner workings of palm flowering physiology are known. But really, much is unknown say notable botanists, still yet to be discovered.

BRACHTS are specialized leaves with a woody consistency. They protect young, growing inflorescences.

This is a Male Phoenix roebelenii - As a Dioecious Palm, Only Male Flowers Will Be Found Here.
Note the Brachts, which have now outgrown their usefulness for these flowers.

PALM FLOWER GENDERS

Flower structure in the palm world is quite variable. Yet palm flowers have 3 types of genders. Arranged on palm trees in several ways.

• Female flowers only with the pistil.
• Male flowers only with the stamen.
• Bisexual flowers have both male & female reproductive organs. They're termed "perfect."

Pollination - When the male's pollen reaches & sticks to the female's stigma.

• A Pollinator Attracted to the Flower, brushes against the male anther. Pollen sticks to the bee, ant, etc. 

1. Palm pollinators are often insects. Wind also helps, & don't rule out hummingbirds!

• Pollinators visit another flower (maybe on a different palm). Where the pollen gets stuck onto the female stigma. 

Scarab Beetle on the Blossoms of a Saw Palmetto - Helping Pollination
But Later When It Fruits, It's Back for the Eats!

Most Palm Tree Fruits are fleshy & contain one seed. With a thick covering around the inner seed. They're called drupes.

• If the inner seed covering is thin, then they're called berries.

On what's inside of a palm tree fruit, think of the term -carp. Coming from the Greek word Karpos, which related to mythology about bearing fruit.

• Peri- means around or surrounding, it's also in medical terminology. Pericarp means surroundings of the fruit.

1. Endo- means inner for this case, so Endocarp is the inner part of the fruit.

Nypa fruiticans Seeds are Also Edible.
The palm itself has many uses for local communities.

The ways that the inside of a palm tree evolved gave them growth & nurturing capabilities. But a side effect to this, was giving palms a survival strategies. Helping them to thrive & continue growing in their endemic environments.

WHAT IS THAT SECRET SIDE EFFECT?

Their secret is how well palms stand up to strong winds. Well, let me stretch that a bit! As they won't stand up straight in behemoth wind storms. Like hurricanes or typhoons. I think you must've seen the photos of palms bending in a massive storm.

Some compare these side effects to reinforced concrete columns!

• The inside a palm tree trunk's central cylinder is built of a matrix of fibrous material. Compare it to poured concrete!
• Within that are the scattered nutritional bundles. They're very strong. Because lignin & cellulose continue depositing within them. For their entire lives. Compare these to steel rebar rods.

See the Inside of the Palm Tree Trunk
To Find There Are No Growth Rings