Coccothrinax argentata

Coccothrinax argentata
Coccothrinax argentata, Bahia Honda Key, Monroe County, Florida Photo by Scott Zona
Conservation status
Apparently Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Genus:	Coccothrinax
Species:	C. argentata
Binomial name
Coccothrinax argentata (Jacq.) L.H.Bailey[1]

Coccothrinax argentata is a palm which is native to Bahamas, south Florida (including the Florida Keys^[2]) southeast Mexico and San Andrés Island^[3]. It is a small (2-6 m tall), slow-growing fan palm with leaves that are dark blue-green above and silver-coloured below.^[4] Flowers are white and small on light orange branches. The fruits rae globose and half an inch in diameter. They are green turning purple or black when ripe.

Common names include: Florida silver palm, Silver palm, Silver thatch palm, Biscayne palm, Palma de plata de Florida, Yuruguana de costa, Palmicha.

Bahia Honda State Park is the home to a large stand of the endangered silver palm trees to be found in a nature walk just off of Sandspur Beach. Bahia Honda State Park is located on Bahia Honda Key, Florida between Mile Markers 36 and 37

The Endangered Florida Key Deer feed on the fruits of the silver top palm.

Silver Palm Drive, S.W. 232 Street, South of Miami Florida is named for the native Coccothrinax argentata. Bismarck Palms which have a silvery appearance are sometimes misnamed as Silver Palms. Silver Palms in their natural habitat grow among Saw Palmetto which have a similar frond structure. Thus they are sometimes misidenified as palmetto. Silver Palms smooth vertical trunk make them clearly different. Silver Palms successfully grow in lawns and gardens with none of their natural habitat items present.

References

1. ^ "Coccothrinax argentata". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/wcsp/namedetail.do?accepted_id=44377&repSynonym_id=146375&name_id=44377&status=true. Retrieved 2007-01-29. 
2. ^ Wunderlin, Richard P.; Bruce F. Hansen (2003). Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida (Second edition ed.). Gainsville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-2632-6. 
3. ^ Henderson, Andrew; Gloria Galeano; Rodrigo Bernal (1995). Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-08537-4. 
4. ^ Gilman, Edward F.; Dennis G. Watson (November 1993). "Coccothrinax argentata Silverpalm". USDA Forest Service Fact Sheet ST-176. http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/cocarga.pdf. Retrieved 2010-10-08. 

• IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 13 November 2007.