Washingtonia filifera
Common name:
California Fan Palm
Desert Fan Palm
Pronunciation:
wosh-ing-to-NEE-a fi-LIF-er-a
Family:
Arecaceae (Palmae)
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Broadleaf evergreen tree, a palm, may grow to 60 ft (~18 m) tall, its crown is a rosette of large leaves supported by a columnar trunk which is densely clothed in pendulous remains of old leaves. Leaves terminal, circular, fan-shaped, deeply incised and pleated, the segments, 5–6.5 ft (1.5–2 m) long, have many thread-like white filaments along the margins; petiole long, tough, margin very thorny near base. Flowers white. Fruit brown-black, ovoid, 6 mm long.
- Sun. The shady thatch of dead leaves are regarded as a fire hazard in cultivation and often removed.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 9. Native to Southern California, southwest Arizona and northwest Mexico.
- filifera: thread-bearing, a reference to the filamentous fibers that peel from the leaf margins
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