One Of Arizona’s Most Abundant Plants Doesn’t Belong Here
As you walks down city streets or lonely dirt roads across Arizona, you're likely to find Palm Trees growing on every corner. These tall, shady trees have taken over the Arizona landscape and help give this state the look and feel it has now.
But how does a tree so prominent in tropical climates find a home in the middle of one of Earth's most barren deserts?
Are Palm Trees Native to Arizona?
No, Palms are not native to the state of Arizona, but their story is a little trickier to place than just "they got here somehow". Just like many other states laden with palms, Arizona's supply of these trees was brought from outside.
This is, however, not entirely true. There is one palm tree native to the state of Arizona: the California Fan Palm. They grow naturally in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in between Yuma and Quartzite. But if that's the only naturally occurring palm, where ae the rest of them coming from?
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How Did Palms Get to Arizona?
Many of the Palm Trees that we see inhabiting the desert have roots (pun intended) in the Caribbean and South America. These are warmer and more humid climates, ripe for a tree like the palm to grow in.
The most likely story is that they were imported here for aesthetic reasoning, and nothing more. Early settlers liked the way they looked, and were able to allocate extra water to ensure they stayed alive.
While there's no official answer as to where they all came from, their inclusion in the Arizona deserts have made this state feel just a bit more like home.
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