My terminology won't be correct, but a grower showed me the difference once....if you look at a foxtail frond, the individual leaves stick out from all directions around the frond, so that if it were straight, and you looked at it from the end, the pattern would be a circle, so it looks fluffy like a fox's tail.
If you look at any other similar palm, the individual leaves only grow in a flat plane, 180 degrees it from each other, so that if you looked at it from the end, it would be a flat line, sort of.
Hope you can figure out this description!

Thanks Gary I'll go there now. c9pilot I thought one of the fronds was "fluffier" than the other and rationalized that away due to individual plants but now that you mention it, your description is very clear. Now I'll have to look a bit closer at the tree that gave me the seeds. Thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction. Gary I've loved palms for a long time but never really attempted to identify any nor plant the same so after this storm passes I will be tempted to visited some local gardens to learn more.

Royals seem to be a little more cold tolerant than foxtails in our experience. All the foxtails we planted about 5 years ago didn't survive the cold spells we had a few winters ago. But most of the royals did. We are in Dunedin.

C9pilot is correct. That's where the Foxtail gets its name, the "fluffy" appearance of the frond. Royals grow much taller than Foxtails and have thicker trunks. The Foxtails have very large seeds.

Just when I thought I might be understanding what a foxtail looks like, tropicbreezent you threw me for a loop about the seeds. I went back to the place where I got my seeds from to share the pic for ID and then I saw what I thought was a foxtail but the seeds are very small, smaller than 1/2 inch. Bear with me I'm not sure how to post multiple pics but I'll try. Thanks for all the help. Dunedindan, these images are from Ozona Blue......in your backyard, heh.

Close up

Foxtail seeds?

I think the clumping palms in your first pics are Areca palms (also called butterfly palm).
Not positive but those ones you took the seeds from may also be Adondia (Christmas) palm. I think the seeds for those are big too and turn red in December. I think foxtail seeds are orange. The seeds may just be immature so they are still small.
All are great self pruning types and all may be burnt from our cold spells unless you are really close to the water. But I have gotten royals and arecas to survive so far (8 years).
Ozone Blue is a great spot! Go Rays!

Thanks Dan. I can see that the first palm, which I thought was a royal is much more than like a Butterfly as you suggest. When I came home I researched the Christmas palm and saw the red seeds, the second plant I collected seeds from had green (two trees) and the one next to it had same size but tan looking seeds. I cut a couple of seed stalks. I tried to compare them online but to be honest the seeds are so small they look about the size of butterfly palm seeds. Now if they don't mature for a few month, they're probably very immature and no good to me. I now have an excuse to go back to Ozona Blue to verify those red seeds! I probably won't wait til December tho. Unfortunately I don't live near the water so I'll stay away from the foxtails. I saw so many today, all on the water. Now I know why.
Know of any royals that are seeding now or will be soon?

I agree, the first 2 photos of the clumping palms are Areca/Golden Cane Palm (Dypsis lutescens). The other 2 photos are Foxtail Palms (Wodyetia bifurcata).

Royal palms would be much larger than the foxtails if they are fruiting. Taller and much more massive trunks.

The one major difference is Foxtail palms at maturity grow to 30' and Royal palms grow to 80' we just replaced 3 Queen palms, 2 of which got Gano Derma disease, with Foxtail, which are virtually disease free and they are self cleaning, cutting palm fronds and huge flowers, pods on 30/40' palms trees was no longer an option for us. Here's our new no maininence Foxtail Palms.

Thanks Eric that info on foxtail is very helpful. I need every little nuance to help me in identifying the palms.

Susie, I love those palms, I really don't need an 80' tree! I had a queen many years ago at another home I was fond of, it was probably 15-20' tall and that was plenty. We used to decorate it for christmas. I have seen alot of foxtails on the water but the more I look for them, the more I see in other places around town soooooo I think I might try to grow some. Your palms are just beautiful.

RetiredFlorida, sorry for the late reply, I'm actually on holidays travelling around. Those last 2 photos you posted are Foxtails, Wodyetia bifurcata. Royals have rather wispy inflorescences that droop down.

But those seeds on the Foxtail in the photo are far from mature. They need to be very much larger, 25 to 30 millimetres in diameter.

Thanks Tropicbreeze. I threw the seeds out after realizing they were not ripe. The great thing is the tree isn't too far away. Good info, still learning to identify but all these little inferences make a difference. Have to go out and check on some bismark seeds tomorrow, what a gorgeous tree.

My first palm seedlings are starting to pop up from the potting soil now. Butterfly's to follow, germinating now.

Have a great holiday and stay cool!

Found a tree with ripe (and close to ripe seeds) yesterday.

And these are some Foxtail seeds that have been laying on the ground below that tree for some time.

Wow, those are huge. They look bigger than the queen seeds I harvested. Are those lines on the seed a husk that has to be removed? Thanks for taking those pics!

No, that's all solid. The 'husks' are orange/reddish in the photo above that. That turns a withered brown colour and isn't difficult to remove.

Ok, great. Those queen palm seeds are horrible to clean. Those look like it will be easy. Thanks.