The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

When is a palm a palm? Is it a palm if it is only a few feet tall or do we need to see it in our mind as towering high above? Does it matter if its trunk is rough or smooth? How about the fronds? Does one style of frond say “palm” and another doesn’t (even if it is)? What if it looks like a palm but is taxonomically something else? What of the fruit it produces? Are date palms more “palmish” than coconut palms? What if it merely flowers, producing no fruit at all? Does that make it more or less of a palm? If a plant doesn’t fit my idea of a palm, does that invalidate your understanding?

One of...