Washingtonia filifera

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Read about Washingtonia filifera in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Washingtonia filifera, Wendl. (Brahea filamentosa, Hort. B. filifera, Hort. Pritchardia filamentosa, Wendl. P. filifera, Hort.). Margins of the petioles armed up to the middle or somewhat beyond with stout hooked spines, but naked above: st. cylindrical, 20-40 ft., enlarged at the base (2-3 ft.), covered with persistent petiole-bases: petioles 2-5 ft. long, 1-2 1/2 in. wide at the summit, glabrous, plano-convex; ligule large, glabrous, lacerate: blade circular, tomentose on the margins of the many segms., 3-5 ft. diam., cleft on the upper side nearly to the middle, gray-green; segms. margined with numerous fibers 6-12 in. long: seed flattened on the raphal face. Probably S. Calif. and W. Ariz.—Cult. on the Riviera, S. France, but not distinguished in this country. Var. robusta, Parish (W. robusta, Wendl. W. filifera, Hort., not Wendl. Neowashingtonia filamentosa, Sudw.). Fig. 3997. The palm usually cult. in this country as W. filifera, whereas the one cult. as W. robusta is really W. gracilis: margins of petiole armed throughout: trunk stout, enlarged at base, 60-90 ft. tall: petioles stout and erect until old, 3-5 ft. long, the upper surface concave; ligule paper-like, acuminate and torn; lf .-blade 3-5 ft. across, with 60-70 folds, cleft two-thirds to the base, the margins with abundant threads: panicle declined, exceeding the lvs., the infl. dense, but in fr. becoming diffuse or open: fls. with heavy odor: seed excavated on raphal face. Borders of the Colorado Desert in S. Calif., at low altitudes.— The commonly planted Washingtonia in Calif. with filiferous lvs. The portraits in horticultural magazines are mostly not clearly referable. Var. microsperma, Becc. Cult. in the Riviera but yet undiscovered in the wild, differing in smaller stature, and margins of petioles armed only at base: seed flattened on raphal face. 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 It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article.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.

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References

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

External links

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