Annual Plants With Palm-Like Leaves That Bloom Once Per Season

Palmate and Palm-Like Leaves

• Palmate leaves are different from palm-like leaves. Palmate refers to the arrangement of the veining in the leaves of a plant and may be either pinnate or palmate. Palmate veins radiate out from a central spot while pinnate leaves alternate along the midrib much like a fish skeleton around the spine. Palm-like leaves are shaped like a palm tree, with deep lobes and pointed leaflet ends. The vein arrangement is palmate in palm-like leaves.

Castor Bean

• An annual plant when grown in the U.S., the castor bean plant (Ricinus communis) is native to Africa. It was grown for the oil of the leaves but is found in gardens for the uniqueness of its structure. The plant has palm-like leaves comprised of eight radiant leaflets and produces small inconspicuous green flowers that become spiny red seed pods with mottled beans inside. Castor bean should not be grown where children, horses and other animals play and eat. The beans are pretty to look at but are poisonous and contain the deadly toxin ricin. Cut off the flowers before they can form the dangerous beans.

Cleome

• Cleome, or spider flower (Cleome hassleriana), is a common annual plant that blooms during the one season and then will die back. It freely seeds itself, and the plant has 5-inch long palm-like leaves. The flowers are unusual, dangling like spiders from the stems. They are hairy, slightly spiny and are held in racemes. The annual can grow up to 4-feet tall and 1-foot wide and comes in pink, purple and white. The flowers only arise in summer, and then the plant will die after seeding.

Cardinal Climber

• Also called Ipomoea multifida, the Cardinal Climber is closely related to morning glory vines. The plant may grow up to 10 feet in length and has palm-like leaves. It is a twining annual that curls around other plants and structures to carry itself along. Cardinal Climber produces 1-inch deep red flowers with white throats in the summer season; then the vine seeds itself and dies. The seeds are toxic if eaten but are readily germinated if directly sown in spring.