Brahea armata

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Figure 1. Very attractive plant of B. armata with inflorescence.

Synonymy:

Brahea clara

Common Names:

Blue Hesper Palm

Distribution & Habitat:

Rocky canyons of Baja, California, and north-western Mexico.

Description:

Very distinctive and attractive plant, with large, blue/grey fan leaves. The trunk gets to about 50cm wide, although it only grows to about 12m tall.

General:

A very popular plant in the dry inland areas of the USA, and Mexico.

Culture:

Prefers full sun in a dry, very well drained situation. Very slow growing. Rarely seen in the tropics and sub-tropics, since it is usually too wet, and humid for them. Very frost resistant.

Figure 2. B. armata in habitat, Catavina Boulder Field in BajaCalifornia Norte, Mexico.

Figure 3. A classic stand of B. armata.

Contributed by:

Rolf Kyburz (Figure 1)
Brandt Maxwell, Brandt's Palm and Tree Page (Figure 2)

External Links:

Kew, PalmWeb, JSTOR, Trebrown

Google, GoogleImages, Flickr, PalmTalk