In Your Face

You are still in a secluded area of UM campus. The School of Business Administration is on the left where the canal of yesterday's blog is. In your face are the Bismarckia nobilis palms, natives of the island of Madagascar that is home to many plant species, including the beautiful bottle palm (Hyophorbe lagenicaulis.) Bismarckia nobilis palms may reach an ultimate height of 50-60 ft (15-18m) with a spread of 20 ft (6m) or more. Even young specimens like these that have yet to form mature trunks have full crowns of about 25 leaves with huge spreads. The huge palmate leaves are bright light blue, waxy and are up to 10 ft (3m) across. They are supported on 6 ft (1.8 m) stems that can be 10 in (25cm) in diameter. The leaf bases split where they attach to the trunk (like those of Sabal palmetto) and the leaf stems are armed with small sharp teeth. I know, I touched a few today to test them. Won't do that again any time soon.