The trunks of stilt palms rise above the forest floor held aloft by its massive prop roots. The downward growth of the prop roots literally push the palm trunk upward. The roots are covered with hard spines. One of our students tested her hypothesis that the prop roots allowed these palms to be taller and have larger crowns of leaves in proportion to their stem diameter than palms with more typical roots. Her data supported her hypothesis suggesting the prop roots function like tree buttresses.