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Chamaerops
Chamaerops is a genus with one species, Chamaerops humilis, the European fan palm, a slow-growing, clumping shrub-like palm. It is very cold-hardy and drought-tolerant once established, and is grown mainly as a landscape plant in Mediterranean and temperate climates.
Chamaerops is a genus of flowering plants in the family Arecaceae. It contains only one species, Chamaerops humilis, variously called European fan palm or the Mediterranean dwarf palm. It is one of the most cold-hardy palms and is used in landscaping in temperate climates.
Chamaerops humilis is valued in gardening and landscaping in many parts of the world. It is very drought-tolerant once established. It is hardy to −12 °C (10 °F), but does prefer hot summers. It is a very slow-growing plant. A blue form of the species, native to high elevations of the Atlas Mountains, has recently been introduced into the trade and early reports indicate that it may be 12 °C (22 °F) or more hardier than the green form.
In Europe, it is widely cultivated across the Mediterranean, as well as in the southern portions of the U.K. In the United States, Chamaerops is cultivated along the West Coast from southern California to the Pacific Northwest coast, along the East Coast from Georgia to Maryland, and in several areas of the drier southwestern United States. Chamaerops is also cultivated in New Zealand and several parts of Australia.
Chamaerops humilis is one of only two palm species native to continental Europe, the other being Phoenix theophrasti. It is mainly found in southwestern Europe, over all the south coasts of Spain and Portugal, central and southern Italy, parts of the southern Mediterranean coast of France and Monaco, on the islands of Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands, as well as North Africa in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. It is one of the northernmost naturally occurring palms in the world, with the northernmost native standing in Genoa, Italy, at 44°N. Although not naturally occurring far north from the Mediterranean, Chamaerops humilis grows well as far north as southern England.
Apart from its material benefits, this palmetto is of emotional value as a charismatic component of the "garrigues" and "macchias" of the Mediterranean coastline.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chamaerops by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
