You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
The leafbases of certain pinnate palms form a sheath around the top of the stem surrounding the bud where all the subsequent leaves are formed. This elongated circumferential leave base formation is called a crownshaft. Most tropical pinnate palms with any substantial trunk tend to have crownshafts, but not all. For some, the crownshaft is the most beautiful part of the palm, sometimes having a unique fuzzy coating, a bluish or colored tomentum, or an ornamental bulbous quality that adds to the tropical look of the palm. Crownshafted palms are all \'self cleaners\'- in other words, the oldest leaf, forming the outermost layer of the crownshaft, loosens up as it dies, and the leaf falls or slides down the stem. No pruning is necessary for crownshafted palms (yet many overzealous gardners do it anyway). Probably the most well known palm with a crownshaft is the King palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana).
