ridiculously tall palms

[kepel]

Yeah, sounds good to me, I'll stake my flag up there for a couple of hrs, Wal !!

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Palms have the most amazing structure. Its hard to imagine the physical strength required for something so tall to withstand the wind...for decades. Of course, here in North FL, the only palm that has a chance of reaching those heights is Sabal palmetto, but the tall ones are all in forests. Standing alone, they get blasted by lightning or uprooted by high winds. As common as they are, one of my favorite things about California is the Dr Seuss scale of the Washingtonia robusta. I always think, I wonder what they look like with a 100kph/60mph Santa Anna wind blowing through their hair.

[garrin]

These would be refereed to as "lightning rods" here, unfortunately. I would love to have a 50ft.+ palm in my yard to add scale.

I was caught some years ago by an intense thunder storm with a lot of lightning in the mountains of Colombia right in a large grove of very tall C Quindiuense. They too were scattered like in the photo, and I did not see any lightning damaged palms. Perhaps since there are so many in places like this that strikes to individual trees may be rare. Perhaps more upslope palms get the blasts?

[Geoff]

Here's a few tallish palms

Beverly Hills Phoenix and Washingtonias

Maybe not super tall, but taller than I've ever seen this species: Livistona saribus, Singapore

And another Singapore Palm that again is not super tall, but tall for this species: Bismarckia

And I don't know if it's the same Livistona rotundifolia in first set of photos, but here's another tall Singapore palm

]

[bgl]

The Roystonea oleracea alleys in Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden are also pretty impressive!

[Jimhardy]

Here's a few tallish palms

Beverly Hills Phoenix and Washingtonias

Maybe not super tall, but taller than I've ever seen this species: Livistona saribus, Singapore

And another Singapore Palm that again is not super tall, but tall for this species: Bismarckia

And I don't know if it's the same Livistona rotundifolia in first set of photos, but here's another tall Singapore palm

]

Boy,that is amazing!

Look at that shinny little trunk!