phoenix canariensis

Phoenix canariensis is a large, solitary palm, {{convert|10|-|20|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} tall, the tallest recorded being {{convert|36|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} tall.{{cite web | title=Canary Islands Date Palm on the estate De plataneras in Tenoya, Canary Islands, Spain | website=Monumental trees | date=2005-03-06 | url=https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/esp/canaryislands/palmasdegrancanarialas/12443_deplataneras/ | access-date=2024-11-01}} The leaves are pinnate, {{convert|4|-|6|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} long, with 80–100 leaflets on each side of the central rachis. There are typically around 75 to 125 living leaves on a tree, but the record number were on a tree on the French Riviera, which bore 443 green, fresh leaves at one time.{{cite journal | date= September 4, 1920 | last=anonymous | title= | journal= Gardener's Chronicle | volume= 68 (third series) | issue= | page= 124 }} The fruit is an oval, yellow to orange drupe {{convert|2|cm|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1|cm|abbr=on}} in diameter, and containing a single large seed. The fruit pulp is edible, but is not a particularly good date.{{cite book |last=Little |first=Elbert L. |title=The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Western Region |year=1994 |orig-year=1980 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=0394507614 |edition=Chanticleer Press|page=324}}

The common name in English is Canary Island date palm, although it is sometimes known by its initials, "CIDP".{{cite book | last1=Giblin-Davis | first1=Robin M | last2=Faleiro | first2=Jose Romeno | last3=Jacas | first3=Josep A | last4=Peña | first4=Jorge E | title=Biology and Management of the Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus | date=2013 | publisher=Potential Invasive Pests of Agricultural Crops | doi=10.13140/2.1.1029.1202 | url=http://rgdoi.net/10.13140/2.1.1029.1202 | access-date=2024-11-01 | page=}} It has also been called "pineapple palm".{{cn|date=November 2024}} The common name in the Canary Islands and other Spanish-speaking countries is palmera canaria.

The variety Phoenix dactylifera var. jubae, now considered a synonym for P. canairensis, was named after King Juba II.{{Cite journal |last=Briones |first=Julià Molero |last2=Pereira |first2=Trinidad Arcos |last3=Carrasco |first3=María Dolores García de Paso |last4=Reyes-Betancort |first4=Jorge Alfredo |last5=Santos‐Guerra |first5=Arnoldo |last6=Jestrow |first6=Brett |last7=Francisco‐Ortega |first7=Javier |date=2025-04-30 |title=On the Macaronesian endemic woody spurge Euphorbia regis‐jubae Webb & Berthel. and eponyms honouring the Numidian King Juba II (48 BCE –23/24 CE) |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134297198 |journal=Curtis's Botanical Magazine |doi=10.1111/CURT.12623}}

The Canary Island date palm is typically cultivated in wet-winter or Mediterranean climates, but also in wet-summer or humid subtropical climates such as eastern Australia and the south-eastern United States. It is also increasingly being cultivated in higher latitude oceanic climates, such as Ireland, the UK, and the Channel Islands.{{cite web |last=Carter |first=Michael A. F. |title=Palms in the Channel Islands |url=http://www.palmsociety.org/members/english/chamaerops/040/040-09.shtml |access-date=12 December 2013 |publisher=The European Palm Society}} It can be cultivated where temperatures rarely fall below {{convert|-10|or|-12|C|F}} for extended periods, although it will require some protection if cold periods are longer than normal. Younger specimens, without a sizeable trunk, are more prone to freezing. It is a slow-growing tree, increasing in height by up to 60 cm per year,{{cite web | last=Fox | first=Arabella | title=Everything You Need to Know About Canary Island Date Palm | website=Evergreen Trees Direct | date=2022-04-27 | url=https://www.evergreentrees.com.au/blogs/plant-care-tips/everything-you-need-to-know-about-canary-island-date-palm | access-date=2024-11-01}} and is propagated exclusively by seed. Mature P. canariensis are often used in ornamental landscaping and can be fairly readily collected and transplanted to a new planting location.

The palm is easily identified by its crown of leaves and trunk characteristics. Canary Island date palms are often pruned and trimmed to remove the lower, older leaves.{{cite web |title=Canary Island Date Palm – Phoenix canariensis – A–E – Palm Blog |url=http://realpalmtrees.com/palm-blog/a-e/canary-island-date-palm-phoenix-canariensis/ |access-date=19 January 2018 |website=realpalmtrees.com}} When pruned, the bottom of the crown, also called the nut, appears to have a pineapple shape.

The Canary Island date palm is susceptible to Fusarium wilt, a fungal disease commonly transmitted through contaminated seed, soil, and pruning tools. Spread of the disease can be reduced if pruning tools are disinfected before use on each palm.{{cite web |url=http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pp139|title=Fusarium Wilt of Canary Island Date Palm|last=Elliott|first=Monica|access-date=2016-11-21|publisher=UF/IFAS Extension Service}} In some parts of its cultivated range it is attacked by the invasive South American palm weevil Rhynchophorus palmarum and Asian palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus. Adult weevils are preferentially attracted to chemicals emitted by injured or damaged palms. The weevil larvae burrow into the crown then feast on the sugar-rich apical bud, which provides a path for bacterial or fungal pests. That typically kills the apical bud after some time, either due to secondary infection by pathogens or due to heavy infestation of larvae, causing the leaves to droop, turn brown and die.{{cite web | url=https://www.lajollalight.com/news/story/2021-01-07/weevil-worries-canary-island-palm-trees-in-la-jolla-are-dying-due-to-beetle-infestation | title=Weevil worries: Canary Island palm trees in la Jolla are dying due to beetle infestation | date=7 January 2021 }}

P. canariensis has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.{{cite web |title=RHS Plant Selector – Phoenix canariensis |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/12767/Phoenix-canariensis/Details |access-date=8 February 2021 |website=Apps.rhs.org.uk |publisher=Royal Horticultural Society}}{{cite web |date=July 2017 |title=AGM Plants – Ornamental |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf |access-date=25 April 2018 |publisher=Royal Horticultural Society |page=77}}

The Canary Island date palm appears in many notable examples of landscaping, particularly in the American state of California. According to legend, it was first planted in what is now San Diego in 1769, by Spanish missionary Junípero Serra, a founder of the California mission system.{{Cite journal |last1=Trent |first1=Heidi |last2=Seymour |first2=Joey |date=2010 |title=Examining California's First Palm Tree: The Serra Palm |journal=Journal of San Diego History}} Though this story is likely false, Spanish missionaries did cultivate true date palms, rather than Canary Island date palms, in California in the late 1700s for the fruit.{{Cite journal |last=Zona |first=Scott |date=2008 |title=The horticultural history of the Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis) |journal=Garden History}} However, a Canary Island date palm was famously known as "The Serra Palm"—the palm supposedly planted by Junipero Serra in San Diego—before the tree's death in 1957.

Other famous plantings of the Canary Island date palm in California include the campus of Stanford University, which has 600 of the palms in its Mediterranean-inspired campus. Stanford's entrance, Palm Drive, is one example of extensive use of the palm in landscaping, including 166 of the species along the stretch leading to the campus.{{Cite web |last=magazine |first=STANFORD |date=2013-09-01 |title=High and Mighty |url=https://stanfordmag.org/contents/high-and-mighty |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=stanfordmag.org |language=en}} In Healdsburg, California Canary Island date palms were planted in the town's Plaza in 1897 as part of a campaign to promote the Sonoma County town as a tropical paradise.{{Cite web |title=The Plaza Walk |url=https://www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/498/Healdsburg-Tree-Walk-PDF |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=ci.healdsburg.ca.us |language=en}} Oracle Park in San Francisco, the stadium of the Major League Baseball team, the San Francisco Giants, is another notable example of the Canary Island date palm in Californian landscaping, containing a host of the species at the stadium's entrance and beyond left field.{{Cite book |last=Farmer |first=Jared |title=Trees in Paradise: a California History |publisher=Norton and Company |year=2013}}

In the Canary Islands, the sap of the date palm is used to make palm syrup. La Gomera is the only island where the syrup is produced in the Canary Islands.

In some areas, P. canariensis has proven to be an invasive plant. In Bermuda and the United States (Florida and California), it is considered naturalised (living wild in a region where it is not indigenous). It has also spread in some areas of peninsular Spain, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Greece, North Africa, the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand.{{cite web|url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=152655|title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|website=Apps.kew.org|access-date=19 January 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Phoenix%20canariensis.png|format=PNG|title=Bonap|date=2004|website=Bonap.net|access-date=19 January 2018}}{{cite web |title=Phoenix canariensis – Species Page – APA: Alabama Plant Atlas |url=http://www.floraofalabama.org/Plant.aspx?ID=5434 |access-date=19 January 2018 |website=Floraofalabama.org}} It is listed as invasive in coastal southern California.{{cite web |url=http://www.cal-ipc.org/ip/management/plant_profiles/Phoenix_canariensis.php |title=Cal-IPC: Phoenix canariensis |access-date=2016-06-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526062836/http://www.cal-ipc.org/ip/management/plant_profiles/Phoenix_canariensis.php |archive-date=2016-05-26 }} In Auckland, New Zealand, the palm has itself become a host for the naturalised Australian strangler fig Ficus macrophylla.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

File:Phoenix Canariensis amongst the flowers at Tresco.jpg|Palms at Tresco Abbey Gardens, Scilly Isles, England, 2022

File:Phoenix Canariensis at Tresco's Abbey Garden.jpg|Palms at Tresco Abbey Gardens, showing crowns, 2022

File:Phoenix Canariensis group shot on Tresco.jpg|Palms planted c.1890 in the subtropical gardens of Tresco, 2022

File:Large, ancient Phoenix Canariensis at Tresco.jpg|Specimens up to {{convert|100|ft|0|order=flip}} tall at Tresco Abbey Gardens, 2022

File:Phoenix canariensis - Canary Island Date Palms at South Coast Wholesale Nursery.jpg|P. canariensis (Canary Island date palm) collection at South Coast Wholesale Nursery, San Diego, California

File:CIDPpalmMelborneFL.jpg|Mature Canary island date palm in Melbourne, Florida

File:CIDPfruitJPG.JPG|P. canariensis fruit in Northern Florida

File:OldCanaryPalmPHX.jpg|Tall, old Canary Island date palm in Phoenix, Arizona

File:Gelbsteißbülbül - Pycnonotus xanthopygos 03.jpg|Close-up of fruit

File:CIDPBuxtonNC.jpg|Canary Island date palm growing in Hatteras, North Carolina, about its northern limit unprotected on the East Coast of the United States

File:Phoenix canariensis B.jpg|Close-up of flowers

File:Phoenix canariensis cortex.jpg|Bark

• List of animal and plant symbols of the Canary Islands

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{{Commons}}

• {{cite journal |title=Phoenix canariensis in the wild |journal=Principes (Journal of the International Palm Society) |date=April 1998 |volume=42 |issue=2 |url=http://www.palms.org/principes/1998/canariensis.htm |access-date=18 May 2008 }}

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canariensis

Category:Endemic flora of the Canary Islands

Category:Garden plants of Europe

Category:Ornamental trees

Category:Drought-tolerant trees

Category:Plants described in 1882