Why doesn't Florida have any palm trees on the actual beaches?

The palms on FL beaches are Coconut palms, which are very salt tolerant, perhaps even a facultative Halophyte. Most palms are not, therefore are not likely to grow in the beach sand. read more

They can be facultative, which means they can use the salt in some way to better their lives, but do not have to have it. Solidago sempervirens, the Seaside Goldenrod is an example; it can live on dunes on the ocean beach, but can also live inland. read more

Obviously we have waves crashing on most of our beaches all day every day whereas in Hawaii many beaches are protected against the crashing waves (other than some of north shore). read more

There are plenty of palms which will grow on temperate beaches, but not on the beach sand; the Sabal palmetto grows near beaches from the Texas coast all the way through Florida to the North Carolina coast. read more

Florida is probably the 8th largest fishery in the U.S. Like many tropical regions, the fishing effort is spread over a large number of species. In its commercial fisheries about 10% of the $$ is from stone crab, a very well known fishery. read more

Coconut trees and a lot of the palm trees in Florida aren't native to that area either yet you see plenty growing out of the sand. And there are areas where they do grow out of the sand, Venice Beach has a fair amount, so it's possible with Southern CA's most common type of palm tree. read more