Questioning Evolution
Ajo, Arizona
2025
I’m fascinated by those tall, tall, skinny palm trees you see in this part of the country. In this case, I believe this particular tree to be of the Mexican fan palm variety. Mexican fan plams are native to the Baja Peninsula and part of Sonora, Mexico. Being desert climates, plants there tend to be well spaced, so being able to grow tall above a thick canopy of trees to access the always abundant sunshine does not seem to be of any survival advantage. So what spurred them to develop the capacity to grow upwards of 100 feet tall? It’s got me stumped. It’s almost like they are the result of some Mendelian chicanery by a bored or enterprising botanist who one day thought “Gee, I wonder how tall a palm tree I can breed if I put my mind to it?”