Benita Van Hosen, age 13, of Galveston, Tex., for her question:
HOW MANY KINDS OF PALMS ARE THERE?
There are more than 2,600 different kinds of palms. They vary greatly in size and in the kind of flowers, leaves and fruits they produce.
Palms grow in warm climates, especially in the tropics. Palms are important in tropical regions because they provide food, clothing and building materials for the people. The palm trees and shrubs are most common in Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands and in tropical America.
Palms grow wild in America as far north as the coast of North Carolina, Arizona and the deserts of Southern California. You'll also find them as far south as Uruguay, central Argentina and Central Chile.
Palms actually are an ancient group of plants. Buried remains of palm leaves have been found as fossils that date from the Age of Dinosaurs. At one time, palms grew in all parts of the world since fossils have been found as far north as Greenland.
Most palms grow straight and tall, but a few do not. The trunks of some palms may lie on the ground. Some types have most of the trunk buried in the soil.
The rattan palms found in the jungles of Southeast Asia have slender, vinelike stems that are from 10 to 250 feet long. The stems may trail along the jungle floor or climb high in the trees.
Most palms have a single trunk or stem. Many have clustered trunks, however, that grow from the same root base.
The trunk of the palm is usually straight and round and from four to 24 inches thick. But other palms have trunks that are no thicker than a pencil, while others have trunks that are more than five feet thick.
Palms may grow to only a few inches tall while others grow to be more than 100 feet tall.
Palm leaves vary greatly in size and appearance. The smallest types are less than a foot long. Most of the fanlike leaves are from two to four feet wide while the featherlike types may be 20 feet long and from one to four feet wide.
Some of the leaves become huge. The talipot palm has fanshaped leaves that may be 15 feet wide. The raffia palm's leaves may be 40 feet long and eight feet wide.
Palm fruit also varies in size and appearance. Some fruits are no larger than a pea while the double coconut palm may produce fruit that is two feet in diameter.
Palms provide shade, fuel and building material that include both timbers and thatch. Fibers for making ropes and brooms and for caulking ships are made from the palm, too.
Many of our baskets and chair bottoms are woven from strips of palm leaves. The stems of the rattan palm are used in making furniture. Raffia is made of thin layers of cells stripped from the leaves of a Madagascar palm. It is used by children in basketmaking at school. And don't forget palm food items: coconut meat and oil and dates.
Also, we use the wax from the leaves of the carnauba palm of Brazil in such products as shoe polish.