Date Palms / Date Palm Trees / Phoenix Palms

The phoenix family of palms is one of the most common in landscapes throughout the tropics and sub-tropics. Among the palms in the phoenix family are the Canary Island Date Palm or Pineapple Palm, the Sylvester Palm or Silver Date Palm, the Roebelenii or Pygmy Date Palm, the Reclinata or Senegal Date Palm and the True Date Palm (The most common varieties in landscapes include the Medjool Palm, Deglet Noor Palm and the Zahidi Palm.

The Pygmy Date Palm is the smallest in the family. The others can grow tall (50' or taller) and in the case of the Senegal Date Palm, extremely wide (30' or wider). The Reclinata or Senegal Date Palm is a clustering palm that produces many canes. Canes can be eliminated to create a symmetrical Reclinata Palm. The Medjool Date Palm will cluster until the palm has approximately 10' of trunk. Suckers can be removed and grown separately from the parent plant. This is how date palm farms maintain the integrity of the date fruit they harvest.

Phoenix palms are either male or female. They require pollination from another neighboring date palms. That is a major factor in the creation of so many hybrids. The hybrid date palms can be very desirable. The mother plant for the hybrid will typically dominate the cross. A Pygmy Date Palm crossed with a Canary Island Date Palm will look more like a Pygmy Date Palm if the mother is the Pygmy Date Palm. To me, the more attractive cross is when the Canary Island Date Palm is the Mother palm. The trunk will be much more robust and the palm will be larger.

Phoenix Palms are easy to germinate. It will take time to see your creations as most of the palms are slow to medium growers.

Good Luck!

Rob Pittman
A Quality Plant
www.aqualityplant.com