On 9/21/2009 3:51 PM, Brettster wrote:
I am trying to find the name of this particular plant, which are grown
in abundance around my neighborhood. Anybody know?

http://snipurl.com/plant-from-hell-1

http://snipurl.com/plant-from-hell-2

The second image in particular shows what I hate about them: the tips
of the leaves are as sharp as needles, and have drawn blood from me on
more than one occasion when I've passed them on the sidewalk. A couple
of times it damned near pierced my eyeball -- if I hadn't been wearing
glasses, I'd be blind in one eye today. I will often return with a
kitchen knife and amputate the more menacing of of the leaves.


It's some kind of "feather" palm. "Feather" refers to the form of the
leaves, which have leaflets along a center stalk. That is, the leaves
are pinnately compound, "pinnate" meaning "like a feather".

Another form is "fan" palm, the leaves of which radiate from a small
area at the end of a stalk. That is, the leaves are palmately compound,
"palmate" meaning "like a hand with the fingers extended".

There are a few other leaf forms, but feather and fan account for most
palms.

Do a Web search on "palm" with either "feather" or "pinnate".

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary