Tropical palms reach tree-like heights without a vascular cambium through sustained cell expansion and lignification of primary tissues, but only a fraction of palms have been explored in their allometric relationships. Here, our main question was to determine how palms depart from the traditional mechanical models developed for trees and how they approach the theoretical buckling limit. We analyzed the stem allometry of 1603 palms of 14 species from different strata at 10 sites in Costa Rica and Peru. We measured their fit to the stress, elastic, and geometric similarity models, and their position relative to the maximum theoretical buckling limit calculated for trees. We evaluated the slope of the linear and logarithmic regressions between stem diameter and height using logarithmic least squares, and standardized major axis regression (SMA), expecting segregation according to canopy position and geographic location. Seventeen out of 19 statistically significant models had SMA slopes > 1, and 11 had SMA slopes ≥ 2, departing from traditional mechanical models developed for trees. Many species varied their allometry relative to geographic location. Canopy palms showed the highest regression fit but had less steep slopes than understory and subcanopy species. Subcanopy and understory species were more underbuilt than canopy palms, increasing height faster than diameter. Some of the tallest canopy palms surpassed the maximum buckling limit whereas subcanopy and understory species were consistently below the buckling limit of record-size trees. Palm stem allometry changed in response to environmental conditions.
Keywords: Buckling limit; Mechanical stability; Palm architecture.