one of the most popular landscaping palms in the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland. Needle palms need hot summers to thrive and the species does not grow well in the cool summer climates mentioned above. The needle palm is considered to be commercially exploited and therefore threatened. When purchasing this palm, it is wise to purchase it only from a reputable dealer, as some unscrupulous dealers harvest them directly from the wild. References External links Scanpalm Rhapidophyllum Rhapidophyllum hystrix - Needle Palm Tree Palm & Cycad Societies of Florida: Photos of wild and cultivated specimens Plant Delights Nursery Coryphoideae Flora of the Southeastern United States Monotypic Arecaceae genera Taxa named by Carl Georg Oscar Drude Taxa named by Hermann Wendland