Chamaerops

Dwarf palm ( Chamaerops humilis )

The dwarf palm ( Chamaerops humilis ) is the only species of the genus Chamaerops in the palm family ( Arecaceae ).

Features

The dwarf palm, is a fan palm that grows mostly multi-stemmed, often bushy and rarely reaches stature heights of 4 to 6 feet. The crown consists of 70 to 80 centimeters wide, semicircular, usually stiff protruding fan leaves. The leaf blade is up to 2/3 divided into 10 to 20 lance-shaped sections, these are green or gray to blue- green and bicuspid at the top. The edge of the petiole is serrated thorny, the reason netzfaserig.

The plants are monoecious or dioecious, sometimes polygamous. The flowers are bright yellow in color and arranged in dense, stocky, paniculate inflorescences. These arise between the petioles on the stem end. The inflorescence is surrounded by a husk up to the lower branches. Male flowers usually contain six stamens, they are seated on a fleshy cup. The three fleshy carpels are enclosed by a female flower. The flowering period extends from April to June.

Occurrence

The area of ​​the dwarf palm covers the western Mediterranean and extends east to Italy. It grows mostly in Garigues and rock corridors on sandy soil. In Central Spain, it forms the " Palmetto formation" with their short, hardly the floor superior strains.

Use

The dwarf palm is grown throughout the Mediterranean region as an ornamental plant. Your leaf buds are eaten as a vegetable, used the material around the trunk, as " vegetabilisches horsehair " for example, as a cushioning material or for the manufacture of brooms.

Pictures

Inflorescences

Fruits

Fronds

Documents

• Andreas Bärtels: Color Atlas Mediterranean plants. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart ( Hohenheim) 1997, ISBN 3-8001-3488-8.