Dwarf palm tree

See also: Palm tree doum

The dwarf Palm tree or false Palmier doum ( Chamaerops humilis L.) is today the only species of the kind Chamaerops (kind monotypic which owes its name to the Greek χἅμαἰ - chamai , low; rops, bush). Other species initially classified in this kind having been reclassified in nearby kinds, in particular Chamaerops fortunei become Trachycarpus fortunei .

It is a Palmier of small size, originating in the areas bordering the the Western Mediterranean, appreciated in the Mediterranean gardens, which belongs to the family of the Arécacées, with the subfamily of the Coryphoideae and the tribe of the Corypheae .

It is very close to the kind Trachycarpus , typical of the Asia.

Vernacular names: dwarf palm tree, palm tree range, palm tree doum, doum or false doum. This palm tree should not be confused with the true palm tree doum, Hyphaene thebaica (L.) Mart., originating in tropical Africa.

The Greeks called it Phoenix chamaeriphes , which literally means “thrown palm tree with ground”.

Description

Chamaerops humilis is a species Dioïque. It is a dwarf palm tree, almost stemless at the wild state, not exceeding two meters, which can however reach six to eight meters in height in culture in its variety arborescens . It is characterized in particular by its trunk (feather-grass) suckering. It is one of the rare species of palm trees whose feather-grass can ramify. Its slow growth supports the appearance of many rejections at its base at the origin of its appearance in tuft.

The sheets, laid out in final rivet washer, are webbed in the form of range 90 cm in diameter. The Petiole, length and hail (up to one meter length), is very thorny. The limb is dissected into 10 to 20 lengthened and acute, stiff pseudo-leaflets and coriaces. The sheets are green with the higher face and almost white in lower part. The inflorescence is a Spadice, surrounded by a short Spathe (30 cm length), including/understanding many small yellowish, male or female flowers. It is generally (but not always) a plant Dioïque, carrying the male flowers and the female flowers on separate feet. The male flowers have from 6 to 9 cheesecloths which surmount a fleshy chalice, the female flowers count three carpelles monocarpic fleshy. The fruits are Drupe S oblong of reddish color brown to maturity, variable length (from 2 to 5 cm). Their pulp very fibrous and is slightly sweetened. Very astringent, they are not edible.

Distribution and habitat

Chamaerops account two varieties, widespread in the South of Europe (Balearic Islands, Italy, Sardinia, Sicily, Spain, Portugal), and the North of Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya).

Chamaerops humilis is one of both only S of Palmier S natives of Europe, with Phoenix theophrasti , of Crete, also widespread in Turkey.

It is a typical element of the most thermophilous facies of the Mediterranean maquis.

It pushes in dry zones, on rocky or sandy grounds, seaside up to 1200 meters of altitude (with the Morocco), in a rather cold climate in winter; he prefers the sunny exposures and is rather rustic. He can support short frosts going up to -12 °C and certain natural populations are regularly covered with snow but he vegetates only from 10 °C and has need to thrive of temperatures going from 22 to 30 °C.

It is the palm tree whose surface of natural distribution is extended towards north, with like extreme limits the localities of Hyères-the-Palm trees (France) to 43° 07 ' NR, and of the island of Capraia to broad of the Toscane (Italy) to 43° 04 ' NR.

It is absent from Corsica and still exists on the littoral of the Riviera very locally in the Var and the the maritime Alps or it was also cultivated in the course of 19th century in the parks and gardens. It also seems to be met in a wild state in the island of Malta. The dwarf palm tree occupied of important surfaces in the Such Algerian before French colonization.

On the ecological level, this species is very useful to fight against erosion and the turning into a desert because it is regenerated naturally after the fires by emitting new suckers.

Varieties

The following varieties are different by the sheets:
  • Chamaerops humilis VAr. humilis . Sheets greens. Europe.
  • Chamaerops humilis VAr. argentea Andre (syn. C. humilis VAr. cerifera Becc.). Sheets gray. Atlas, North Africa.

Use

  • Plant of ornament: the dwarf palm tree is used to decorate the gardens in the Mediterranean regions like on the littoral with the Atlantic (Brittany, Cornouailles…) where it is rustic. More in north, it is often cultivated out of vat like plants orangery.

  • Plant fibrous: the dwarf palm tree was formerly exploited in North Africa for the production of Palm fiber obtained starting from fibers of the sheets and being used to stuff the cushions, the armchairs, the mattresses… like with the manufacture of objects braided such as plaits, baskets or cords.

  • food Plant: the bud apical, blanchâtre and marrowy, are edible and were consumed in the same way that a palm-cabbage is used in the food of food shortage in the place of potatoes or to make desserts, especially in North Africa.

Curiosity

  • the oldest plant of the Botanical garden of Padoue (Italy) is a specimen of Chamaerops humilis planted in 1585; one knows it under the name of “palm tree of Goethe”, because Goethe, which saw it at the time of its voyage in Italy, dedicated certain writings to him.

  • This plant is the origin of the name of the fourteenth day of the month of Floréal in the republican Calendrier: Chamerops .

References

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