Difference between revisions of "Washingtonia filifera"

Latest revision as of 22:17, 12 August 2015

Pronunciation: wash-ing-TOE-nee-uh fill-LIFF-er-uh

Common Name: California Fan Palm, Petticoat Palm, Cotton Palm

Washingtonia filifera is California's only native palm. Though fairly commonly grown, mature specimens make excellent specimens and still a different look from the overly common Washingtonia robusta (Mexican Fan Palm) which is grown everywhere one looks. These palms do best inland away from ocean influence, which tends to make their crowns sparse and anemic looking. This is an excellent desert palm, which is where they are native to. This species has one of the thickest of all the palm trunks on earth. Hybrids between this and the Mexican Fan Palm are commonly seen in landscapes around southern California.

Appearance and Biology

Habit: solitary with a crown of 10-30 leaves
Height: 70'
Trunk: single; 28" in diameter; usually clean except near top where dense petticoat often present in unpruned mature adult palms; grey-brown in color without any rings; trunks straight up and down, never bending or arching like those of Washingtonia robusta
Crownshaft: none
Spread: 14'-15'
Leaf Description: palmate to mildly costapalmate; divided about half its length; leaflets drooping with age, stiffer when young; leaves a pale to medium green color with a lot of cottony fibers; young palms often have dense cottony fibers along leaflet margins; 9' long
Petiole/Leaf bases: all green without the red-brown of the Mexican Fan Palm; heavily armed with large, hooked teeth; leaf bases split but only appreciated in pruned specimens as leaf bases usually covered with dead skirt of leaves, and fall off after several years
Reproduction: monoecious and relatively productive for a palm (thousands of seeds below mature seeding palms)
Inflorescence: long and arching from middle of leaf bases and eventually hanging down below crown; up to 15' long; white, bisexual flowers
Fruit: 1 cm in diameter green to blackish when ripe
Seed: 5-6mm diameter, brown and flattened spherical

Horticultural Characteristics

Minimum Temp: 15F
Drought Tolerance: very good
Dry Heat Tolerance: very good
Wind Tolerance: good
Salt Tolerance: moderate
Growth Rate: moderate
Soil Preference: well draining and relatively dry but very adaptable
Light Requirement: full sun
Human Hazards: sharp petiolar teeth; numerous seeds can make sidewalks a bit hazardous
Disease or Horticultural Problems: sparse crowns and slightly pinched trunks near coast; some mature palms die suddenly without apparent reasons
Transplants?: fairly good
Indoor?: poor
Availability: common but not always easy to tell if this or the other species when young, and rarely do nurseries identify which is which

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 '''''Washingtonia filifera''''' is California's only native palm.  Though fairly commonly grown, mature specimens make excellent specimens and still a different look from the overly common ''Washingtonia robusta'' (Mexican Fan Palm) which is grown everywhere one looks.  These palms do best inland away from ocean influence, which tends to make their crowns sparse and anemic looking.  This is an excellent desert palm, which is where they are native to.  This species has one of the thickest of all the palm trunks on earth.  Hybrids between this and the Mexican Fan Palm are commonly seen in landscapes around southern California.
+<center>
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 *'''Availability''': common but not always easy to tell if this or the other species when young, and rarely do nurseries identify which is which
 |}
+{{#Widget:AdResBan}}
 <gallery>
 File:Washingtonia oasis.JPG|native palms in Palm Desert, California
@@ Line 59: / Line 60: @@
 File:Washingtonia filifera crown.JPG|crown shot
 File:Washingtonia filifera half crown.JPG|partial crown shot
+File:Washingtonia filifera petioles and dove I think.jpg|petiole shot
 File:Washingtonia filifera filiferous seedling.JPG|juvenile volunteer
 File:Washingtonia filifera juvenile LD.jpg|young palm in desert
 File:Washingtonia filiferas with missing landscape tree H.jpg|old palms in Huntington gardens
 File:Washingtonia filifera.JPG|underwatered palm showing sparse crown
+File:Washingtonia filifera trunk rings LD.jpg|ringed trunk
 File:Washingtonia filiferi.JPG|juvenile palm
 File:Washingtonia filifera dead.JPG|dead palm
 File:Washingtonia topless.JPG|another suddenly dead palm
+File:Washingtonia filifera infructescence and skirt.jpg|infructescence
+File:Washingtonia filifera fruits shot LD.jpg|fruits
+File:Washingtonia filifera fruits and finch nice shot.jpg|fruits and finch
 File:Washingtonia filifera and robusta larb again.jpg|''Washingtonia filifera'' (shorter thick trunk) and ''robusta'' (tall, thin and bent trunk)
 File:Washingtonia filifera nd 1 robusta.JPG|''Washingtonia filiferas" and a single "Washingtonia robusta" on the left
 File:Washingtonia filifera and robusta trunk.JPG|''Washingtonia filifera'' and a ''Washingtonia robusta'' trunk
 </gallery>
+[[Category:Washingtonia]]

Difference between revisions of "Washingtonia filifera"

Geoff Stein - Author & Editor

Latest revision as of 22:17, 12 August 2015