Know Your Islands: National Tree is the Silver Thatch
In the spring of 1995, at the request of the Ministry for Community Development, Sports, Women & Youth Affairs & Culture, the National Trust for the Cayman Islands called a meeting of an Advisory Committee to set guidelines and poll public opinion on the best candidates for National Bird, Tree and Flower.
By a very large percentage, the public was found to support the Cayman Islands Parrot, the Wild Banana Orchid and the Silver Thatch Palm for the National Symbols.
The distinctive Silver Thatch palm, often just known as ‘Tatch,’ is a tree unique to the Cayman Islands. It can easily be distinguished from the rather similar Bull Thatch by looking or the silvery reflection from the underside of the leaves. The trunk, which is often slender and sometimes very tall, is brown though usually covered with grey, pale green, orange and yellow lichens.
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