Brahea

Plant Characteristics

Habit		palm-cycad
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Origin:	✈	Mexico, C America

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Features:	✓	drought tolerant

Scientific Names

Arecaceae >

Brahea >

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Brahea is a genus of palms in the Arecaceae family. They are commonly referred to as Hesper Palms and are endemic to Mexico and Central America. All Hesper Palms have large, fan-shaped leaves.

Read about Brahea in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Brahea (Tycho Brahe, the Danish astronomer). Palmaceae, tribe Corypheae. Medium-sized, usually spineless palms except on the leaf-stalks, with ringed trunks, the upper part of which is usually clothed with the persistent leaf-bases. Leaves usually numerous, nearly round and somewhat peltate, the many lfts. plicate and deeply 2- parted, sometimes slightly spiny on the margin, more often filamentous; petioles flattened, dentate or rarely spiny along the margins, very fibrous at the sheathing base: spathes usually linear, firm, almost woody, frequently perfectly glabrous; spadix much branched, sometimes twice or thrice paniculate and bearing among the dense white wool 1 or many sessile fls. in each cluster; fls. hermaphrodite, sometimes with inconspicuous bracts, 3 nearly round sepals, 3 valvate petals and 6 stamens: fr. small, ovoid, sometimes pubescent. Beccari admits only 4 species, all Mexican except B. salvadorensis. From its nearest horticultural relative, Sabal, Brahea is distinguished by the purely technical character of having 3 free carpels. In a moderately warm house, the cultivated braheas will thrive very well. A mixture of sand, rich loam and well-rotted horse- or cow-manure is best. They require plenty of water. They are not very common in the trade but two species are grown outdoors in southern California. Propagation is by seeds, which are rare. B. edulis, Wendl., sometimes offered in Amer., is Erythea edulis, Wats. — B. filamentosa, Hort. Washingtonia filifera. Wendl. — B. filifera, Hort.-W. fiiifera. — B. glauca, Hort. - Erythea armata, Wats. — B. robusta, Hort.-Washingtonia. — B, Roezlii, Erythea armata, Wats. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Species

There are 11 species described in the genus as follows:

• Brahea aculeata (Brandegee) H.E.Moore (Sinaloa Hesper Palm)
• Brahea armata S.Watson (Blue Hesper Palm, Mexican Blue Palm)
• Brahea brandegeei (Purpus) H.E.Moore (San Hose Hesper Palm, Palma de Taco)
• Brahea calcarea Liebm
• Brahea decumbens Rzed.
• Brahea dulcis (Kunth) Mart. (Rock Palm)
• Brahea edulis H.Wendl. (Guadalupe Palm)
• Brahea moorei L.H.Bailey ex H.E.Moore
• Brahea pimo Becc.
• Brahea salvadorensis H.Wendl. ex Becc.
• Brahea sarukhanii H.J.Quero

Move following info onto individual pages:

Brahea aculeata Sinaloa Hesper Palm ↕ 12-30 ft. (3.6-4.7 m) ↔ USDA Zones 8b-11 Sunset Zones

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Brahea armata Blue Hesper Palm, Mexican Blue Palm ↕ 40ft ↔ 6-8ft top USDA Zones 8b-10 Sunset Zones 10, 12-17, 19-24. Hardy to 18F/-8C. Slow grower. Trunk is flexible and slim, gray and smooth, 18 in. (45cm) in diameter. Leaves usually fall off, but sometimes are persistent. Bluish/Silver tint to the leaves, can look nearly white, with 25-30 leaves on a healthy tree. Leaves are divided into 40-60 leaflets. Cream colored flowers are very visible and hang low in large clusters, much longer than leaves. Can withstand wind and heat well. Seeds will sprout for a few years after production, but are always sporadic, taking 1-12 months to sprout. The brown round fruit comes in at 0.8 in. (2cm) and is edible.

Brahea brandegeei San Jose Hesper Palm, Palma de Taco ↕ 125ft ↔ USDA Zones Sunset Zones 19, 21-24 Hardy to 26F/-3C. Has flexible, slender trunk. Grows slowly. Native to Baja California and Sonora in Mexico. Leaves are 3ft (1m) long, a light gray/green color, and are shed when old. Trunks 1ft wide. Similar in appearance to Washingtonia robusta, but leaves are stiffer, fruit bigger and flower stalks shorter and less pendulous. Flowers are self fertile, on stalks coming out from among leaves, but shorter than them. Round shiny fruit is brown when ripe, 0.6-0.8 in. (1.5 to 2 cm) diameter.

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Brahea calcarea ↕ 15-30 ft. (4.7-9 m) ↔ USDA Zones 9a-10b Sunset Zones

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Brahea decumbens ↕ ↔ USDA Zones Sunset Zones

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Brahea dulcis Rock Palm ↕ 10-12 ft. (3-3.6 m) ↔ USDA Zones 8b-10b Sunset Zones

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Brahea edulis Guadalupe Palm ↕ 15-45 ft (4.5-13 m) ↔ 10-20 ft USDA Zones 8b-10 Sunset Zones 11-24 Hardy to 18°F (-8°C). Native of Guadalupe Island. Trunk is gray and fissured, 18in. (45cm) diameter, with numerous irregular rings. The old leaves/petioles fall of on their own. Leaves are shiny green, costapalmate, 3-6 ft (90-180 cm) long and 3 ft (90 cm) wide. Each leaf is divided into 70 to 85 segments; petioles, 40 in (1 m) long, with few or no teeth. Prefers regular water in summer, little in winter, drier air, good drainage. Seeds germinate easily in 1-3 months, and will sprout for years. The round and golden fruit are edible as well, tasting something like dates, and measuring 1-1.25 in. (2.5-3.5cm). Flowers in the summer are a creamy yellow, on stalks up to 4 ft (1.2 m) long which appear between the leaves (and are shorter than the leaves).

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Brahea moorei ↕ 36-48 in. (90-120 cm) ↔ USDA Zones 8a-11 Sunset Zones

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Brahea pimo ↕ 3-8 ft. (1-2.8 m) ↔ USDA Zones 9b-11 Sunset Zones

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Brahea salvadorensis ↕ 10-20 ft. (3-6 m) ↔ USDA Zones 9a-11 Sunset Zones

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Brahea sarukhanii ↕ 10-15 ft. (3-4.7 m) ↔ USDA Zones 9a-11 Sunset Zones

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Gallery

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Brahea. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Brahea QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)