How do palm trees survive hurricane winds?

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📓 The short answer

Palm trees can survive hurricane winds due to the flexibility of their stems, the aerodynamic design of their leaves, and their well-anchored root system.

📚 The long answer

I don't mean to alarm you, but it turns out palm trees are not technically trees after all. Trees are dicots; palms are monocots. Genetically, palms are more closely related to grasses.

Palm trees:

Do not have bark. What appears as bark is not true bark but rather a bunch of fibrous, tough tissue left from old fronds (i.e. palm leaves).
Do not have branches. A healthy palm has a cluster of 30 to 50 fronds and grows new fronds from the top.
Do not increase in diameter as they age. Trees have what's known as a cambium layer that constantly produces more wood to increase the diameter of the trunk. Palm trees do not have this layer, so after they mature, palms simply grow vertically.
Have a different vascular system. Trees have organized rings of phloem (transports sugar) and xylem (transports water) layers. Palm trees have their phloem and xylem arranged in bundles, not in rings.

So palm trees are built differently than actual trees. And their unique, non-tree characteristics that help them survive hurricane-force winds of up to 145 mph.

Here are three key reasons why palm trees can survive hurricane winds:

Reason #1: They have flexible stems.

Palm trees can bend 40-50 degrees without snapping. They can do this because of their stem structure.

A cross-cut shot of the inside of a palm stem — "Palm tree trunk" by Kadeve is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED

As I mentioned before, palm trees are not technically trees and don't have the same stem/trunk makeup as trees. Instead of ringed layers, they have dense bundles of fibrous material, kind of like the wires in a telephone cable.

A tree's rigid structure allows it to hold the weight of a heavy branching system, but since a palm doesn't need to carry they weight of branches, it can be more flexible. Strong winds can fracture a tree, but palms just bend, bend, bend.

Reason #2: They have aerodynamic leaves.

An image showing palm fronds with a backdrop of a partly cloudy sky — "Palm branch" by borges is licensed under CC0 1.0 DEED.

The feather-like design of palm leaves, or fronds, significantly reduces wind resistance and potential damage. They can bend, fold, and allow both rain and wind to pass through their gaps with minimal resistance.

Reason #3: They have a wide, well-anchored root system.

An exposed root network of a living palm in the sand, showing off its multitude of small roots

Palms go for quantity over quality when it comes to their root system. Unlike trees that have a few large roots as anchors, palms have a multitude of smaller roots that spread in the upper layers of soil. This extensive root network not only stabilizes the palm but also distributes the mechanical stress of high winds across a broader area, reducing the likelihood of uprooting.

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All my best,

Caitlin

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📖 Book of the week

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

We all gotta breathe. Might as well learn how to do it right.

Nestor explores the impact that certain breathing techniques can have on our health and well-being, backed by scientific research and historical practices from around the world. I was impressed/disturbed when the author shared his experience doing an experiment on himself breathing only through his mouth for weeks on end. I've never been more grateful to be able to breathe through my nose.