How come the palm trees in Phoenix don't have coconuts?

I'm from the east coast and I was always under the false impression that all Palm trees have coconuts like in the movies. Now I see that in Phoenix there are no coconuts..I'm wondering if it is a result of intentional cross breeding, or is it simply that it is a different species of palm tree which does not naturally produce coconuts. Ive also wondered if it was a gender issue, as in maybe only females produce coconuts and so they only plant males to avoid people getting hit with falling coconuts. Im of course speculating on something which i have no understanding of whatsoever, so any insight will be greatly appreciated thanks.

How come the palm trees in Phoenix don't have coconuts?
There are 2600 species of palm tree. Only one of those produces coconuts. Do the math.
Reply:Here in South Carolina, the palm trees have small berry-like fruit. I've grown a couple from seeds I picked up down at the beach. These are palmetto trees, so they are different from coconut palms and date palms. Here's a site with different species of palm trees:





http://www.palm-tree.net/species.html
Reply:Because they're not coconut palms.





There are about 200 genera and 2600 species of palms in the world... only a few produce what you'll think of as coconuts. Some palms, for instance, produce dates, others betel nuts, carnauba wax, rattan, oil, and a lot of other products.





Mostly what I remember seeing in Phoenix during the one brief visit I had were about three species of Washingtonia (fan palm) and a lot of Phoenix canariensis (Canary Island date palm)





Coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is introduced in the US-- you'll see it in FL, NC, HI and in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Reply:I believe that the majority of the palms in and around AZ are date palms and other NON coconut producing species.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_pal...





Here's some info on the coconut palm
Reply:Because there are different varieties of palm trees.
Reply:On the west coast we mostly have date palms. Now and then you'll notice a funny thing that has lots of little round green things. Most of them aren't edible though. I think in florida most palm trees do have coconuts if that helps any!