Many people are surprised to learn that palm trees aren’t technically trees at all. The iconic plants, with their distinctive palm fronds and long slender trunks, are classified as woody perennials, similar to bamboo. The fronds and branchless stems of over 2,600 different species in 200 genera are used to classify them.
With such a wide variety of palm trees available for purchase, it can be difficult to sort through the various palm tree types when attempting to select a species for your landscape. This guide explains how to identify various types of palms and then provides information on 42 common palm trees.
Identifying Palm Trees
Palm trees are distinguished by two characteristics: the shape of their fronds and the shape of their trunk. Palm tree leaves are either palmate (fan-like) or pinnate (feather-like). Trunks can be single or clustered, and can be thin or thick. The trunk’s texture can range from smooth to ringed, bumpy, or covered in husks.
Choosing a Palm Tree
When selecting a tree for your space, keep in mind that it must grow in your local climate (especially if you require cold hardy palm trees) and fit the space you have available. Always consider the mature width and maximum height of the tree. When possible, choose a native variety, but this isn’t always possible.
42 Common Palm Tree Species
1. Acai palm (Euterpe oleracea)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-12
Sun Requirements: Part shade to full shade
Mature Height: 50 to 100′
Mature Spread: 10 to 20′
The acai palm is a fruit-bearing species that grows in the understory and prefers shade to full sun. It is quite narrow when mature, with the spread of long leaves being less than half the final height. Acai trees thrive in acidic soils and prefer constant moisture. It will take several years after planting to bear fruit.
2. Areca palm (Dypsis lutescens)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 20 to 40’
Mature Spread: 8 to 15’
The areca palm, also known as the golden cane palm or butterfly palm, is distinguished by multiple stems of yellow-green feathery fronds that curl upward in a butterfly shape. It grows up to forty feet tall outdoors and makes an attractive ornamental houseplant in colder climates. In the summer, trees produce yellow flowers, which are followed by small yellowish-orange palm fruits.
3. Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-11
Sun Requirements: Full shade to partial shade
Mature Height: 4 to 12′
Mature Spread: 8 to 15′
The bamboo palm, a common indoor plant, has multiple stems similar to bamboo canes. Each stem has up to sixty long, waving leaflets that can grow to be three to four feet long. This tree thrives in low indirect light and filters pollutants and contaminants from the air, earning it a spot on NASA’s list of the best air-cleaning plants.
4. Bismarck palm (Bismarckia nobilis)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 40 to 80′
Mature Spread: 10 to 15′
While it prefers warmer climates, the Bismarck palm is more cold-hardy than most and can withstand brief periods of subfreezing temperatures. It is native to Madagascar and has attractive silver-bluish-green fan-shaped fronds that can reach a height of ten feet. Bismark palm trunks are thick and short, filling out in diameter before finishing their upward growth.
5. Bottle palm (Hyophorbe lagenicaulis)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 10 to 20’
Mature Spread: 10 to 15’
The bottle palm tree, which many consider to be a dwarf tree, is highly sought after in Florida and California. At the base, a short fat trunk appears to be bottle-shaped. When fully mature, these trees grow to be about fifteen feet tall with only a handful of massive fronds. The feather-like leaves can grow up to ten feet long and have 140 two-foot leaflets.
6. California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 8-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Mature Height: 40 to 60’
Mature Spread: 10 to 15’
The California fan palm is easily identified. The gray-green fan-shaped fronds of this medium-sized ornamental droop down to resemble a petticoat when die. It is also known as the desert fan or petticoat palm due to its long, fan-shaped fronds. The leaves are about six feet long and have many thread-like filaments growing from the margins and tips of the leaflets.
7. Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Mature Height: 40 to 60′
Mature Spread: 20 to 40′
The Canary Island date palm tree is, unsurprisingly, native to the Canary Islands. Up to one hundred feather-like fronds nearly fifteen feet long sit atop a three-foot-wide, thick trunk. Creamy yellow flower panicles droop up to four feet from male and female trees, with the flowers giving way to reddish-yellow date-like fruits on female trees.
8. Cat palm (Chamaedorea cataractarum)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 11-12
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 3 to 5′
Mature Spread: 3 to 5′
The cat palm, a popular indoor houseplant, grows with many thin stems rather than a single primary stem. This clustering variety forms a dense clump of deep green stems with elongated leaves with rounded tips. The cat palm is indigenous to Mexico and thrives in the understory of other plants.
9. Cayman thatch palm (Coccothrinax proctorii)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 12 to 25’’
Mature Spread: 6 to 8’
This stunning plant is native to the Cayman Islands and is known as Cayman thatch or Proctor’s silver palm. This variety’s unusually tough, salt-tolerant leaves are green on top with silvery undersides; they are frequently used for house roofs or woven into baskets, hats, and fans. As the island’s national tree, the Cayman thatch palm has a long history.
10. Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 8-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Mature Height: 60 to 80′
Mature Spread: 20 to 25′
A massive colossal trunk supports a dense arching crown of forty to fifty feather-like fronds on the Chilean wine palm. These drought-tolerant plants can be grown all the way up to zone 8, and they thrive both indoors and out. It grows slowly, taking up to a half-century to produce yellow and purple blooms.
11. Chinese fan palm (Livistona chinensis)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-10
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 40 to 50′
Mature Spread: 15 to 20′
The Chinese fan, which is native to China but is now considered invasive there, is one of Florida’s most popular ornamental palm trees. These medium-sized trees can reach a height of thirty feet and thrive in dry soils. A Chinese fan palm’s massive textured leaves are broad and fan-shaped, spanning nearly six feet across and drooping.
12. Christmas palm (Adonidia merrillii)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 10 to 20’
Mature Spread: 5 to 10’
The ornamental Christmas palm bears clusters of bright red fruits in late fall, giving it the appearance of being decorated for the holidays. A slender smooth gray trunk with leaf scars from old fronds that bulges slightly at the base. The crownshaft is adorned with glossy pinnate leaves that arch to form a lovely green crown.
13. Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-12
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Mature Height: 50 to 100′
Mature Spread: 20 to 40′
While the coconut palm’s fruits are well known, there are only a few places in the United States where these trees can grow successfully because they require hot weather to set fruit. This tree has long feathery fronds and a slight curve in its single stem. It is extremely salt tolerant.
14. Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Mature Height: 50 to 80’
Mature Spread: 20 to 40’
Phoenix dactylifera, also known as the true date palm, is a low-maintenance tree that can grow to be eighty feet tall with a spread half that size. The canopy is made up of hundreds of waxy gray-green pinnate fronds up to sixteen feet long, as well as an abundance of fruits. These trees are native to North Africa and prefer dry soil and full sun.
15. Dwarf majesty palm (Ravenea hildebrandtii)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Part shade
Mature Height: 8 to 10’’
Mature Spread: 5 to 7’
The dwarf majesty palm tree grows to be less than eight feet tall and less than three inches in diameter, making it ideal for a smaller garden or an indoor container plant. Bright green leaves can grow up to three feet long and have up to a hundred leaflets, creating a majestic, arched appearance that contrasts with the slim trunk.
16. European fan palm (Chamaerops humilis)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 6 to 15′
Mature Spread: 6 to 20′
The European fan palm tree is the only palm tree native to Europe. It can grow as a small tree with a single stem to about fifteen feet tall, or as a large shrub with multiple trunks of similar size. The brown textured trunks resemble a pine cone as it grows. The fan-shaped leaves are 24 inches long and range in color from light green to silver.
17. Fishtail palm (Caryota mitis)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 8 to 20’
Mature Spread: 10 to 35’
The leaflets on the large compound leaves of the fishtail palm have ragged edges that resemble a fish’s tail fin. Grayish-green leaves grow to enormous proportions, forming thick layers of swirled, ruffled fronds. Suckers from the base of fishtail palms grow dense and full, creating fantastic privacy screens and an excellent substitute for bamboo.
18. Florida royal palm (Roystonea regia)
USDA Hardiness Zone:
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 65 to 100’
Mature Spread: 20 to 30’
The majestic Florida royal palm, native to South Florida and Cuba, has a tall, relatively skinny trunk with a bulging base and a smooth green crownshaft. Its magnificent crown is made up of fifteen arching dark green fronds that can grow up to thirteen feet long. Old fronds shed and peel away from the crown, revealing the smooth green trunk beneath.
19. Florida thatch palm (Thrinax radiata)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 15 to 20’
Mature Spread: 10’
The Florida thatch palm, with weepy yellow-green fan-shaped fronds, is native to the state after which it is named and is commonly seen along South Florida coastal highways. Dropping leaves three feet long sit atop a slender gray trunk, but the Florida thatch palm may send up multiple trunks. It’s a slow-growing variety that works well as a privacy screen.
20. Foxtail palm (Wodyetia bifurcata)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-12
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 40 to 50′
Mature Spread: 10 to 15′
Because of its self-cleaning nature and perfect size proportions, foxtail palm is a popular landscape plant throughout most of the southern United States. A smooth gray trunk is embellished with a bright green crownshaft and large tufted feather-like fronds that resemble a bushy fox’s tail. Trees bear bright red clusters of fruit after flowering.
21. Guadalupe palm (Brahea edulis)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Mature Height: 30 to 40′
Mature Spread: 10 to 15′
Popular in the Southwestern US, Guadalupe palm is a drought-tolerant palm native to Guadalupe Island off of the west Mexican coast. A single ringed trunk reaches about 1.5’ in diameter and is topped with a thick bluish-green canopy of three to five-foot wide costapalmate fronds. Guadalupe varieties are self-cleaning, salt and wind tolerant, and bear black fruit similar to dates.
22. Kentia palm (Howea forsteriana)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Partial shade to shade
Mature Height: 40’
Mature Spread: 6 to 10’
The Kentia palm—also called a paradise palm—is one of the most commonly grown indoor types because of its ability to withstand low-light conditions, infrequent watering, and cooler temperatures. These slow-growing species reach about 12-foot tall indoors and are adorned with slightly arching, feather-shaped fronds. Mature leaves can reach up to seven feet long with 2.5’ long leaflets.
23. King palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 40’
Mature Spread: 10 to 15’
King palms are stately trees and are great for planting around pools or as focal points in front of a home. They have smooth grayish-brown trunks, lime-green crownshafts, and bright-green pinnate fronds that rarely drop below the crownshaft. Fifteen to twenty arching leaves grow up to seven feet long to form a graceful crown that loves plenty of sunshine.
24. Lady palm (Rhapis excelsa)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 6 to 15′
Mature Spread: 6 to 15′
Smaller in stature than many other varieties, the lady palm has dense clusters of dark green fan-shaped fronds. As plants mature, the fronds are slightly offset to create a thick, layered appearance. They thrive in gardens with room to spread and bear clusters of fragrant yellow blooms in the spring when grown outdoors.
25. Lipstick palm (Cyrtostachys renda)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 11-12
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 25 to 35’
Mature Spread: 12 to 20’
Adored for its brilliant color, the lipstick palm is known for its bright red crownshaft adorned with deep green pinnate leaves reaching five feet in length. Also called a red sealing wax palm, the trunk’s base is bright green with accents of white rings. This variety displays greenish-white blooms that give way to little black fruits in the summer.
26. MacArthur palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 15 to 25’
Mature Spread: 6 to 10’
A tall, skinny tree, the MacArthur palm is easy to identify with its three-inch-wide whitish trunk adorned with dark rings. The dense crown has about a dozen six-foot-long pinnate leaves atop a light-green waxy crownshaft. Brilliant red fruits form in showy clusters year-round. The MacArthur type prefers to grow in clumps and has a medium growth rate.
27. Mazari palm (Nannorrhops ritchiana)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 6-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 10 to 20’
Mature Spread: 5 to 10’
A rare variety, the Mazari palm has a growth habit more like a shrub or bush than the typical palm tree. Native to Afghanistan and Pakistan, this tree produces fan-shaped four-foot-long leaves in silvery-green or silvery-blue on clusters of thin stems. It prefers hot summers but is one of the most cold-tolerant plants on the list, handling temperatures down to -5°F.
28. Mexican fan palm (Washingtonia robusta)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 80 to 100′
Mature Spread: 5 to 10′
The fast-growing Mexican fan palm reaches an impressive one hundred feet tall when it’s fully grown. With a spread maxing out at ten feet, the singular-trunked tree is exceptionally narrow, topped with light to dark green fan-shaped fronds spanning three to five feet. Instead of dropping off, the dead leaves hang down to create a dense skirt around the crownshaft.
29. Needle palm (Rhapidophyllum hystrix)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 5-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Mature Height: 3 to 9’
Mature Spread: 6 to 8’
Another hardy specimen, the needle palm produces multiple stems with sharp 3-4” spines at the base. The slender stems grow tightly together, reaching about seven inches in diameter and covered in fiber husks to protect them in cold weather. Palmate leaves are deep green and grow about 2’ long and 4’ wide, hiding creamy-white flowers that produce small reddish-brown fruits.
30. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-12
Sun Requirements: Part shade
Mature Height: 40 to 50′
Mature Spread: 15 to 20′
The most efficient oil-bearing plant globally, oil palms are essential for countless oil-based products, from cooking oil to soaps. These single-stemmed trees grow upwards of five stories tall, with pinnate fronds reaching an astonishing fifteen feet long. The trunks are wrapped in fronds, creating a rough appearance. Reddish, plum-sized fruit frow in large clusters containing approximately fifty percent oil.
31. Parlor palm (Chamaedorea elegans)
Hardiness Zone: 10-12
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 10 to 15′
Mature Spread: 5 to 10′
Native to southern Mexico, the smaller parlor palm grows well outdoors or as an indoor houseplant. When found growing wild, it is often in the rainforest understory. Multiple stalks emerge from the ground to create a shrub-like look, with lightly textured foliage. When grown indoors, plants reach about six feet tall and are tolerant of low light.
32. Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-11
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Mature Height: 65 to 100′
Mature Spread: 20 to 30′
Peach palms are often grown for nutritious edible fruit that bears some resemblance to a relatively large peach. Stem grow up to eight inches thick and are adorned with stiff black spines. Twelve-foot-long pinnate leaves bear 24” long pointed leaflets with short spines on the leaf veins. Fruits must be cooked extensively before you can eat them.
33. Pindo palm (Butia capitata)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 8-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 15 to 20′
Mature Spread: 10 to 15′
The edible berries on the attractive pindo palm are a sweet mix of banana and pineapple flavors and are typically used to make jelly. Also known as the jelly palm, this hardy species has a roughly textured trunk and arching silvery-green pinnate fronds. Three-foot-long clusters of fragrant yellow flowers give way to the edible brownish-red berries. These trees have very few disease problems.
34. Pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 6 to 10’
Mature Spread: 4 to 5’
Perfect as a garden accent or an indoor ornamental plant, the pygmy date type doesn’t grow more than ten feet tall. Its singular spiky-looking trunk is partially hidden by the bushy pinnate fronds measuring approximately three feet in length. Cream-colored flowers produce dates, but they aren’t as tasty as those grown on a true date palm.
35. Queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Mature Height: 50 to 60’
Mature Spread: 5 to 10’
The fast-growing queen palm is common in landscapes across Southern California and the Gulf States as it tolerates a variety of climates and offers color year-round. In the summer, plumes of creamy-white blossoms accent the 15 feet long glossy green fronds. At the beginning of winter trailing orange fruit clusters appear. A smooth gray trunk grows straight without any branches.
36. Saval palmetto palm (Sabal palmetto)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 8-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Mature Height: 50 to 65’
Mature Spread: 10 to 15’
Native from Florida’s northern panhandle to Southern South Carolina, the saval palmetto is also known as cabbage palm, sabal palm, common palmetto, and blue palmetto. These tall-growing trees are identified by their distinctively notched large blue-green costapalmate leaves and interesting bark on their straight, thick trunks. They are the official tree of Florida and South Carolina, reaching upwards of sixty feet tall.
37. Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 8-10
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Mature Height: 5 to 10’
Mature Spread: 4 to 10’
Used in landscapes from Florida to Texas and up to North Carolina, the saw palmetto is an essential plant in the Southeastern United States. A slow-growing multi-trunked variety, it is tolerant down to 0°F and spreads as stout stems run across or below the soil surface. Large fan-shaped fronds reach three feet across in shades of green or silvery-blue.
38. Senegal palm (Phoenix reclinata)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun
Mature Height: 35’
Mature Spread: 12 to 20’
The Senegal palm or Senegal date palm creates a beautiful silhouette in the landscape with its gracefully curved, clumping trunks and crowns of yellow to dark green pinnate fronds. Slender brown trunks lose their older fronds as they grow, leaving the medium-brown bases behind for a showy effect. Colorful date stalks are incredibly striking, especially when viewed from above the tree.
39. Spindle palm (Hyophorbe verschaffeltii)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10 to 11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 10 to 20’
Mature Spread: 5 to 10’
Spindle palms are known for the unique shape of their smooth grey trunks. Unlike other varieties, this tree’s trunk is swollen in the center instead of the base and ringed with shed frond scars. Six to ten arching pinnate fronds about ten feet long turn down and outward at the end to create a ‘V-shaped crown.
40. Sylvester date palm (Phoenix sylvestris)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 8-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 50 to 60’
Mature Spread: 10 to 15’
One of the most popular varieties worldwide, the Sylvester date or silver date palm, is native to India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Mature trees are accented with a diamond-shaped pattern on the singular trunk from leaf scars. One hundred large arching pinnate fronds in silvery blue-green create an impressive crown. Trees bear edible oval fruits that turn purplish-black when ripe.
41. Triangle palm (Dypsis decaryi)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10-13
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Mature Height: 25 to 30′
Mature Spread: 12 to 15′
The triangle palm gets its common name from the tree’s unique crownshaft. These trees form overlapping frond bases on three sides of the dark gray trunk. Keeled pinnate leaves reach up to ten feet long and arch near their tips. Small yellow flowers hang in 5’ long pannicles beneath the bottom blue-green to gray-green leaves.
42. Windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei)
USDA Hardiness Zone: 8-11
Sun Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Mature Height: 25 to 30’
Mature Spread: 8 to 10’
Also known as the Chusan or Chinese windmill palm, the windmill palm is named for its slender stalk that holds large rounded leaves to create a windmill-like form. The single thick trunk is covered in dense brown or black fibers, making it look like it’s wrapped in burlap. This striking variety can even tolerate a layer of snow.
