Common Names: Everglades Palm, Paurotis Palm, Silver Saw Palmetto.

One of the few palms native to U.S. soil, Acoelorrhaphe wrightii's range extends from Southern Florida, through the Caribbean to South Mexico and Columbia. This is a palmate (fan shaped leaf) species that forms large, dense clumps up to 5m (16ft) high and several metres wide. As it's natural range from Everglades swampland to coastal regions would suggest, this palm is very salt and wind tolerant, but it also tolerates drought and moderate cold/frost down to -5°C/23°F, which makes it extremely versatile and suitable for many situations where other palms would not survive. Because of the density of the clumps, it can be used to provide a canopy for other species and also acts as a very effective barrier to the wind and salt in coastal regions, allowing much greater diversity of planting within the garden. It is also a very attractive palm in it's own right, with fairly slender, brown, fibrous trunks and light green, pendulous leaves up to 0.9m (3ft) in diameter that have a nice silver underside. With ample feeding and water it will grow quite fast, once established, and prefers a sandy soil and full sun. Whilst it can form very large clumps, when left to it's own devices, individual stems are reasonably compact, so it can even be used in relatively small spaces without being too overpowering.