Washingtonia filifera

Washingtonia Filifera

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Washingtonia filifera

Washingtonia filifera (filifera - Latin "thread-bearing"), common name

Common name

A common name is a name in general use within a community . A common name is not necessarily a commonly used name.Many of the conventions and traditions described in this article are based on the English language, and thus may not apply to common names in other languages....
s Desert Fan Palm, American Cotton palm, Arizona Fan Palm, or California Fan Palm) is a palm

Arecaceae

Palm or Palmae or Panamea , the palm family, is a family of flowering plants belonging to the Monocotyledon order, Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known Genus with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate climates....
native to the desert

Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
oases

Oasis

In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source. Oases also provide habitat for animals and even humans if the area is big enough....
of Central, southern and southwestern Arizona

Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
, southern Nevada, extreme northwest Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
and the inland deserts of Southern California

Southern California

Southern California, or So Cal, is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population centers on the cities of Los Angeles, California, San Diego, California, San Bernardino, California, and Riverside, California....
.

This palm grows up to 23 m (exceptionally 30 m) in good growing conditions.

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Encyclopedia

Washingtonia filifera (filifera - Latin "thread-bearing"), common name

Common name

Arecaceae

Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
oases

Oasis

Arizona

Mexico

Southern California

Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
(except for isolated stands of Sabal Minor in the Texas Hill Country).

The leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
have a petiole

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the small stalk attaching the leaf blade to the Plant stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem....
up to 2 m long, bearing a fan of leaflets 1.5-2 m long, with white, thread-like fibers between the segments. When the leaves die they bend downwards and form a skirt around the trunk. The shelter that the skirt creates provides a microhabitat for many invertebrates.

Washingtonia filifera can live from 80 to 250 years or more. The genus name honors George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the leader of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States of the United States of Americas ....
, the first President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
.

Ecology

Fan palms provide a habitat for Bighorn Sheep

Bighorn Sheep

Bighorn sheep is a species of sheep in North America and Siberia with large horns which can weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates that there are three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: Ovis canadensis sierrae....
, Hooded Oriole

Hooded Oriole

The Hooded Oriole, Icterus cucullatus, is a medium-sized icterid.Adults have a pointed bill and white wing bars. The adult male has an orange head with black on the face and throat; they are black on the back, wings and tail, orange on the underparts....
, Gambel's Quail

Gambel's Quail

The Gambel's Quail, Callipepla gambelii, is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. It inhabits the desert regions of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Texas, and Sonora; also New Mexico-border Chihuahua and the Colorado River region of Baja California....
, Coyote

Coyote

Bostrichidae

The Bostrichidae are a family of beetles with more than 700 described species. They are commonly called auger beetles, false powderpost beetles or horned powderpost beetles....
), and a rare bat

Bat

Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera. The forelimbs of all bats are developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of sustained flight ....
species, Lasiurus xanthinus is especially fond of W. filifera groves. Hooded Orioles rely on the trees for food and places to build nests. Both Hooded Orioles and coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the prairie wolf, is a species of canid found throughout North America and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States, and Canada....
s play an integral part in seed distribution.

Dinapate beetles can be problematic and chew through the trunks of the trees. Eventually a continued infestation of beetles can kill a palm, opening up space for a new palm to grow.

Today due to urbanization

Urbanization

Urbanization is the physical growth of rural or natural land into urban areas as a result of population im-migration to an existing urban area....
, palm oases are disappearing. Increased agriculture has lowered ground water supplies which decreases the amount of water available in palm oases. This creates a threat not only to the far western United State's only native palm, but also all the organisms which rely on these trees in order to survive.

Fossils of this palm are known to exist as far north as Colorado

Colorado

The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
, Wyoming

Wyoming

The State of Wyoming is a sparsely populated U.S. state in the Northwestern United States of the United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains, while the easternmost section of the state is a high altitude prairie region known as the High Plains ....
and Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
. The palm apparently reached its current form by at least 50 - 70 million years BP.

Natural oases environments are mainly restricted historically to the area surrounding warm or hot springs, near the source, or shortly downstream from the source.

Grazing animals including deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae . A number of broadly similar animals from related families within the order even-toed ungulate are often also called deer....
and cattle

Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
and in more ancient times, Giant Sloths and other extinct herbivores, can kill young plants through trampling, or by eating the terminus at the apical meristem, which is the growing portion of the plant.

This may have kept these palms restricted to a lesser range than would have been expected if one simply considers the availability of water sources. Typically, the oasis environment found today is one which may have been protected from colder climatic changes over the course of its evolution. Thus this palm is restricted by both water and climate to widely separated relict groves. The trees in these groves show little if any genetic differentiation, which suggests that this species is genetically very stable.

Cultivation and uses

The fruit of the fan palm was used by Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
s. It was eaten raw, cooked, or ground into flour for cakes. The Cahuilla

Cahuilla

The Cahuilla are a tribe of Native Americans in the United States that have inhabited the U.S. state of California for more than 2,000 years, originally covering an area of about 2,400 square miles ....
tribe used the leaves to make sandals, thatch roofs, and for making baskets. The fan palm was a valuable resource and the stems were used to make utensils for cooking. The Moapa band of Paiutes as well as other Southern Paiutes have stated memories of grandparents also using this palm's seed, fruit or leaves for various things. It should be noted that The Southern Paiutes are related linguistically and by ancient trade routes to the Cahuilla

Cahuilla

The Cahuilla are a tribe of Native Americans in the United States that have inhabited the U.S. state of California for more than 2,000 years, originally covering an area of about 2,400 square miles ....
.

It is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree. (It is not as widely cultivated as the Mexican Fan Palm Washingtonia robusta
Washingtonia robusta

Washingtonia robusta is a Arecaceae native to northwestern Mexico. It grows to 25 m tall, rarely up to 30 m. The leaf have a Petiole up to 1 m long, and a palmate fan of leaflets up to 1 m long....
- a close cousin which is grown throughout the lower elevations of Nevada, California, Arizona, Texas

Texas

New Mexico

New Mexico is a U. S. State located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. Inhabited by Native Americans in the United States populations for many centuries, it has also has been part of the Spanish Empire viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S....
and extreme southwestern Utah

Utah

The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
. W. robusta is one of the hardiest of palms, and repeatedly survives dips into the teens and even several inches of snow, making it a favorite of cold-hardy palm enthusiasts.

This less hardy cousin needs much milder winters and is visibly damaged at 20 degrees Fahrenheit. It is occasionally grown along the Gulf Coast, in states such as Texas

Texas

Louisiana

The State of Louisiana is a U.S. state located in the U.S. Southern States of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans....
, and Florida

Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, and the Mediterranean region. It is widely grown in interior Texas, as it is sufficiently hardy in such places as San Antonio, Austin, Midland, Odessa, and El Paso.

The plants grow best in warm temperate climate with winter rain

Rain

Rain is liquid precipitation . On Earth, it is the condensation of atmospheric water vapor into droplet heavy enough to fall, often making it to the surface....
and dry summers. Specimens outside of Mediterranean climates do not grow as large, rarely exceeding 15 m. The plants are tolerant of considerable frost and the species is rated as hardy to USDA zone 8; it will survive temperatures of -10 °C with minor damage, and established plants have survived brief periods of temperatures as low as -12 °C but with severe damage to the foliage.