Desert Palm

The Washingtonia Filifera is commonly known as California Fan Palm, California Palm, California Washington-palm, Desert Palm, as well as Washington Palm

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Growing Regions

California palm occurs in disjunct groves from the Turtle and Cottonwood Mountains and the Twenty-nine Palms region of the Mojave Desert, California south to the Sierra de Juarez, the Sierra San Pedro Matir, and Sierra Pinnate Mountains, Baja California [27,39]. Four groves are located in Clark County, Nevada [7], and five others are in La Paz and Yavapi Counties, Arizona [23]. Most United States populations occur within the Colorado Desert along the San Andreas Fault. Due to California palm's value as an indicator species (see Site Characterisitics), all known California palm communities have been mapped [7]. It is extensively planted as an ornamental in semiarid and subtropical regions of the world [9], and has naturalized in some places [24].

     

General Information

The currently accepted scientific name of California palm is Washingtonia filifera (Linden) Wendl. [3,24,28]. There are no subspecies, varieties, or formae.

California palm forms open to dense groves in moist areas, often
providing 100 percent of overstory cover [34].  Understory species are
sparse in dense groves and more alkaline areas; they may be abundant in
open groves or favorable sites [15].  California palm communities
separate into three distinct zones:  the hydric zone, the oasis-proper,
and the oasis-desert ecotone.  Oases located at wash or stream sites
gradually intergrade into open desert, while oases in seep areas
generally have abrupt ecotones, grading sharply into xeric desert
communities such as mesquite (Prosopis spp.)  [40].  Publications naming
California palm as a dominant species are as follows:

Sonora Desert [5].
Natural terrestrial communities of California [15].
Riparian forest and scrubland community types of Arizona and New Mexico [34].
The vascular plant communities of California [35].

• More Desert Palm Information

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