by Mary Wakefield Buxton –
Urbanna, Va— There are dozens of species of palm trees in Florida and I tried learning their various names. Some that I identified in my new neighborhood were sabal, royal, queen, fan, coconut, bismarckia (noted for its silvery green fronds) and palmetto. The royal palm was my favorite as it grows straight upward in a majestic statement to the world, rather like the Washington Monument, but the coconut palm with its easy to recognize curved trunk and profuse growth of coconuts under its fronds is probably the most popular palm.
