Washington Palm
Washingtonia robusta (Mexican Fan Palm or Mexican
Washingtonia) is a palm tree native to western Sonora and Baja California Sur
in northwestern Mexico. It grows to 25 m (82 ft) tall, rarely up to 30 m (98
ft). The leaves have a petiole up to 1 m (3.3 ft) long, and a palmate fan of
leaflets up to 1 m long. The inflorescence is up to 3 m (9.8 ft) long, with
numerous small pale orange-pink flowers. The fruit is a spherical, blue-black
drupe, 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) diameter; it is edible, though thin-fleshed.
Cultivation and uses
Like the closely related Washingtonia filifera (California
Fan Palm), it is grown as an ornamental tree. Although very similar, the
Mexican Washingtonia has a narrower trunk (which is typically somewhat wider at
the base), and grows slightly faster and taller; it is also somewhat less cold
hardy than the California Washingtonia, hardy to about −10 °C (14 °F). The Palm
was originally introduced to Los Angeles to beautify the town for the 1932
Summer Olympics. Many Palms planted then in Los Angeles are near the end of
their natural lives and are fully mature. Most of these trees are not being
replaced with other Mexican Washingtonia Palms but with other full-spread trees
like Oak Trees and Sycamores which trap more air pollution and provide more
shade. From Los Angeles the Palms began to spread to other areas in the U.S.A..
Unlike Washingtonia filifera, which has been cultivated as far north as
Oklahoma and Southwestern Utah, the Mexican fan palm can be grown mainly around
areas of the southwestern United States, such as California and the extreme
south coast of Oregon (up to Gold Beach), Arizona, southern Nevada, and New
Mexico. It may also be seen along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida and may
also be found in coastal Georgia and South Carolina with protection on coldest
of nights, though specimens in that region will not be as tall as those along
the West Coast due to a more common occurrence of deep freezes and also
uprooting caused by tropical storms and hurricanes.
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