On a cloudy Sunday morning in Scottsdale, we found a rare chance to see a monopalm and a true palm side by side.
The specimen rises behind a small brick gatehouse with a red tile roof, at the entrance to a residential street off Shea Boulevard. It towers over everything near it, including a healthy date palm only a few meters to its left. That neighbor is the control, and the comparison is useful.
Side by side
The real palm has a trunk that swells and tapers, a crown that sways, and fronds of slightly different lengths. The monopalm has none of that. Its trunk is a dark, straight column from the ground to the crown, with no change in width and no leaf scars. Its fronds are stiff, evenly spaced and nearly identical.
Field marks
- A trunk of uniform width and color, with no taper
- Fronds that stay still while the neighboring palm moves
- A crown carrying green, box-shaped panels among the leaves
- Height well above every real palm nearby
- A pineapple-textured collar hiding the mount
The record
- Photographed: 18 October 2026, about 10 a.m.
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, on Shea Boulevard
- Species: Cellularis palmifrons, one specimen
Please add your own sighting if you pass this way, and tell us if you find a monopalm beside a real one.
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