5 Incredible Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Palm Trees

in #nature7 years ago (edited)

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  1. The Areca Palm gives 10 percent of the Worlds population a daily buzz.
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    We all know that you get coconuts from palm trees, but did you know that the Areca Palm grows a betel nut which is consumed by more than 10 percent of the worlds population. The betel nut gives people the buzz equivalent to 6 cups of coffee. Along side nicotine, alcohol and caffeine, this nut is believed to be one of the most popular mind altering substances in the world. The betel nut gives the mouth a red colored stain and it is know to lead to mouth cancer.
  2. There are palm trees taller than your expectations
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    You think the Palm trees in Florida are tall? In the country Colombia the Quindio wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuense) is the tallest species, and can grow 160 to 200 feet (50 to 60 meters) high. This is twice the height of the Palm trees in Los Angles, and the equivalent of more than 10 full grown giraffes standing on top of one another. Now that's a tree you probably shouldn't use for growing coconuts ,)
  3. Why Hollywood has so many palm trees
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    In how many Hollywood movies set in Los Angeles have you seen palm trees ? Probably all of them and there is a reason. In 1932 Los Angeles was hosting the olympics and in order to decorate the city more than 400 people were employed to plant more than 40,000 Mexican fan palm along 150 miles of city streets.
  4. A palm tree can outlive you
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    Yes it's true some palm trees can live more than a hundred years, if you don't believe it you can plant one and see who falls first.
  5. Biggest seed of any plant
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    The coco de mer palm tree has the largest seeds of any plant on Earth. The seeds can be as large as 20 inches in diameter and as heavy as 66 pounds. Definitely not something you would want to fall on your head. It is used in traditional medicine, the shell of the seed can also be used as big bowls to carry water.
    I was recently on vacation and that is why I got interested in the palm tree. I decided to do some research and I am quite baffled at how much interesting information there is about palm trees that I didn't know so I decided to make a post and share it with you guys. Hope you enjoyed it and have a great day !

Sources:
https://www.google.com/search?biw=320&bih=460&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=QiyHWbWQOozegAbew5jYAQ&q=funny+shaped+palm+tree&oq=funny+shaped+palm
https://www.google.com/search?q=betel+nut+eating&prmd=ivsn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi29M_o78LVAhVJaRQKHbtHB3sQ_AUIESgB&biw=320&bih=460#imgrc=DZ3-KGVQaNv_PM:
https://www.google.com/search?biw=320&bih=460&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=Ci-HWd7EHOzdgAaIj7TYBw&q=quindio+wax+palm&oq=quindio+wax+palm&gs_l=mobile-gws-img.3..0j0i24k1.134032.141116.0.141369.33.27.1.0.0.0.919.12977.4-6j12j4.22.0....0...1.1.64.mobile-gws-img..19.14.8160.3..35i39k1j0i67k1j0i30k1j0i8i30k1.kArb0M7aGL4#imgrc=SPTSEnvZgw9jMM:
https://www.google.com/search?q=hollywood+palm+tree&prmd=isvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjr96SE8cLVAhUGNxQKHX-BDq4Q_AUIESgB&biw=320&bih=460#imgrc=FTSRrT7vOvSBgM:
https://www.google.com/search?q=old+palm+tree&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwipi7zC8cLVAhVHxRQKHe4bCbQQ_AUIEigC&biw=320&bih=460#imgrc=yMsE-O3Gl0a3sM:
https://www.google.com/search?biw=320&bih=460&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=UDCHWe-2C6iVgAaJzoSgCQ&q=coco+de+mer+palm+seed&oq=coco+de+mer+&gs_l=mobile-gws-img.1.0.35i39k1j0i67k1j0l3.319997.325219.0.327341.32.20.1.0.0.0.776.8178.5-10j3.13.0....0...1.1.64.mobile-gws-img..21.11.6445.3..0i10i67k1.lXxxFBovhNg#imgrc=lINeSS0EEV_3kM:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/amp/10-surprising-facts-about-palm-trees

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Hey Dan! well! I'm Colombian and I love to go to Cocora's Park in Quindio, it is such a beautiful place decorated with those gigantic wax palms. On some areas you will find some small houses where you can eat Trucha, it is a delicious fish very popular at that place and specially at Salento the nearest place from Cocora's Park. I definitely suggest it as a tourism destination if you come here to Colombia.

PD: It was a great post! but you hur my heart, it is Colombia, not Culumbia.

Im sorry for spelling it wrong, I know how it's spelled so I will blame the keypad on my iPhone ,). You are lucky to live in such a beautiful country I would love to see these palm trees in real life !

No worries mate! I hope you can visit the park one day :) they are huge! almost seems like they are fake lol

I can imagine that they feel surreal, I have a feeling that some day I will visit this park, definitely on my " future travel destination" map!

very informational. that's one big seed ;)

Glad you liked it :) I usually don't make posts like this but it's always fun to do research and learn new stuff, and even more fun to share !

Very informative and well presented post. Is that first pic of a real tree? Its crazy cool.

I usually only use my own pictures for my post, but for this one my library didn't have what I was looking for so all these pictures are from google and I have sites the sources. This tree is awesome and I truly think it is real because I have seen palm trees bend in different ways and curl, but for sure this one is really cool in the picture and I think it could be real :)

Amazing, i look forward to reading your future posts.

Thank you so much ! Thank for stopping by!

Who Knew There Were Different Types Of Palm Trees And They Have Nuts With A High Amount Of Caffeine In Them !

It's amazing, I read there are around 2500 different kinds of Palm trees in the world, I should have added that in the post hehhe :)

You Did A Great Job On What You Wrote About Palm Trees ! I Learned Something New Today ! I Live In Upstate NY On The Mountains Where There Are Plenty Of Trees Of Course, But No Palm Trees !

Quite interesting facts

Happy you liked the post :)

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Amazing Palm Tree in the first picture!

I've seen those tallest palm trees in Colombia. :)

Wow that is awesome, they must have felt so majestic!?

It's fine, just very tall palm trees. Maybe because I've already seen a lot of palm trees in my life.

Well I can imagine you have seen quite a few hehe ! There are 2500 species, I guess so far I have only seen a fraction of the species which are out there

Hahaha, I'm not such a fan of these trees since I've been seeing them all my life. But I can only identify - tall palm tree, short palm tree hehe. I don't know the names.