The Palm Tree That Isn't

As part of our ongoing project in the backyard, we decided to plant several palm trees. Palm trees grow vertically and require very little care once established, not to mention they provide an inviting and tropical look to almost any area. Not all palm trees are created equal, however, and we were surprised just how different some are. While digging around online, I saw a website that said something along the lines of, “Watch out for fake palm trees!” and had a picture of, among other plants, a Sago palm much like the one we have out front. Confused, I investigated further- after all, palm is right in the plant's name! As it turns out, a Sago palm is indeed not a palm. A Sago palm tree is part of the Cycas plant species, and although visually quite similar, the only thing a palm tree and a cycas plant have in common is that they both come from seeds. Even though I was at first a little disappointed, it turns out that growing a cycas tree is like growing a little part of history- fossil records show the Sago palm dating back to the early Permian period, 280 million years ago, while some species go back all the way to the late Carboniferous period; that's roughly 325 million years old and is much older than dinosaurs! In addition, each plant can take 100 years to reach full size and some individual specimens are well over 1,00 years old. So, while our Sago palm tree really isn't, it is a very cool look at what trees used to be many millennia ago.