Palm

Washingtònia

atenea — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 14:24:24 +0000

Desert Fan Palm

Palm tree with a sturdy trunk, thicker at the base with tightly-packed and not such evident rings as the Washingtonia robusta. The leaves are palm-shaped, very large and frayed and stay on the tree a fairly long time, attached to the trunk after drying. Look at the long and pendulous inflorescences full of aromatic flowers. They live forming small isolated groups in gorges through where water from wells and streams is filtered.

The scientific name was given to it in honour of the first president of the United States of America, George Washington, although popularly it has gained a much more charming name: petticoat palm, because of the accumulation of dry leaves around the trunk.

atenea Thu, 01/05/2017 - 15:24

Washingtonia filifera

Deserts and arid areas

Classification

Arecaceae

Spring

Winter

Width

15-20 m

Height

6-10 m

Reating Plants

Palm

Palmera excelsa

atenea — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 14:07:26 +0000

Hemp Palm

Slender palm tree, with dark green palm-shaped and rounded leaves. It resembles the Mediterranean fan palm (Chamaerops humilis), but the windmill palm has a single trunk and the points on the stalk are not so evident. The flowers hang in conical inflorescences, and in the autumn they produce small kidney-shaped fruits.

It is a palm tree that is used a lot in gardening as it can withstand the cold (it lives in the Himalayas) and it can also resist temperatures of up to 43ºC without the leaves drying up!

atenea Thu, 01/05/2017 - 15:07

Tachycarpus fortunei

Temperate forests

Classification

Arecaceae

Spring

Winter

Width

2-3 m

Height

4-10 m

Reating Plants

Palm

Margalló

atenea — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 17:03:28 +0000

European fan palm

Normally quite short palm tree with a branched trunk. The leaves are palm-shaped and rounded and it is distinguished from the windmill palm by its greyish blue-green colour and the long stalks covered in very evident points. In the autumn, the inflorescences become very fibrous rounded dates that smell a lot. They can be found in the brushwood and scrub of the Mediterranean coastline together with steppe shrubs, heather, gorse and rosemary, among other species.

It is the only native palm tree in the Mediterranean area (and Europe), which means that it is fairly well protected: in Catalonia, you cannot take one or pick any of its parts without prior authorisation. Although its fruit has no culinary interest, its apical gemma is a succulent food that gardeners know very well.

atenea Mon, 12/12/2016 - 18:03

Chamaerops humilis

Scrubland and arid Mediterranean areas

Classification

Arecaceae

Spring

Autumn

Width

2-6 m

Height

2-5 m

Reating Plants

Palm

Washingtònia robusta

atenea — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 16:54:52 +0000

Desert fan palm

Palm tree with a thinner, taller and more slender trunk than that of the Washingtonia filifera and of more rapid growth. The leaves are palm-shaped and not as large as in the other Washingtonia or with as many filaments. The rings around the trunk are fairly evident and it also produces pendulous and aromatic inflorescences. At first glance, the young specimens are hard to differentiate between the two species.
It lives in gorges and places through which small water sources are channelled.
Unlike other trees, palm trees have no secondary growth in thickness: at first, the trunk thickens and when they reach the definitive diameter, they start to grow upwards.

atenea Mon, 12/12/2016 - 17:54

Washingtonia robusta

Deserts and arid areas

Classification

Arecaceae

Spring

Autumn

Width

15-20 m

Height

6-10 m

Reating Plants

Palm

Palmera de dàtils

atenea — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 16:46:57 +0000

Date palm

A more graceful and slender palm tree than the Canary Island palm. The trunk is tall, and thin and has clearer foliage, with bluish-grey leaves. The females produce sweet, edible dates that are larger than the ones on the Canary Island palm These palm trees have been grown since ancient times at desert oases where, together with other species of fruit and horticultural trees, they have steadily replaced the original flora.

It appears to have been cultivated over 6,000 years ago in the Euphrates river valley for its dates, the main component of the diet of the inhabitants of the deserts. As well as the dates, almost all of the other parts of the tree are used: the trunk is used for wood; fibres are made from the leaves for baskets, string and Palm Sunday palms; the apical gemma, the flowers and the pollen are edible and the pine nuts and roots are used as livestock feed.

atenea Mon, 12/12/2016 - 17:46

Phoenix dactylifera

Deserts and arid areas

Classification

Arecaceae

Spring

Autumn

Width

4-6 m

Height

15-30 m

Reating Plants

Palm

Palmera de la reina

atenea — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 16:31:14 +0000

Queen palm

Palm tree with a highly tropical appearance, with alternating, pinnated leaves of between 2 and 4 metres in length. In the summer, it forms branched inflorescences with white or yellow flowers that appear between the leaves and can reach up to 2 metres in length. The fruit is small, round and green (about 2 cm in diameter) with a brown seed.

It is currently a palm tree that is planted a lot in cities and gardens due to its resistance to poor soils and cool temperatures and especially because it is not attacked by weevils.

The species is dedicated to Count Nicolás Romanzoff (1750-1826), Russian statesman, diplomat and Minister for Foreign Affairs who financed a number of naturalist expeditions.

atenea Mon, 12/12/2016 - 17:31

Syagrus romanzoffiana

Tropical and subtropical moist forests

Classification

Arecaceae

Summer

Autumn

Width

20 m

Height

30 m

Reating Plants

Palm

Drago

atenea — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 16:20:05 +0000

Canary Islands dragon tree

Arborescent plant with a thick trunk, whose younger specimens do not branch and have smooth bark, showing only slight reticulated marks. The leaves are greyish-green and emerge from the end of the trunk and branches. It grows on steep slopes, from which it can filter water.

It is endemic to the Canary Islands, Madeira and Cape Verde. In the Canaries, concretely in Icod de los Vinos, there is an extremely large specimen whose age is calculated at 365. Incisions are made into the bark of the dragon tree, obtaining a red resin named dragon’s blood, to which medicinal properties are attributed.

atenea Mon, 12/12/2016 - 17:20

Dracaena draco

Thermophilic forest of the Canary Islands

Classification

Asparagaceae

Summer

Winter

Width

2-10 m

Height

12-25 m

Reating Plants

Palm

Ciques

atenea — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 14:27:26 +0000

Japanese salgo palm

Although it looks like a palm tree, it is in fact a gymnosperm and is therefore related to conifers and the ginkgo. It has a simple or branched trunk that grows very slowly, crowned by a rosette with dense narrow leaflets that are so dark and shiny they look as though they are made of plastic. The male plants develop a large and vertical cone in the middle of the feather-like rosette, while the female plants, like the one shown in the diagram, have flowers below these.

It is one of the few remaining species of a family that originated in the Triassic age and which was widespread 200 million years ago. Morphologically, it represents an intermediate stage in the evolution of ferns on flowering plants. There are now only 9 genera and 100 species remaining from the cycadaceae family.

atenea Mon, 12/12/2016 - 15:27

Cycas revoluta

Monsoon forests

Classification

Height

1-3 m

Reating Plants

Palm