Family: Arecaceae
Common Name: Helper Palm

Native to southern California, Mexico and Central America, these fan palms are grown quite widely in California in streets and gardens, but but in cooler and cold climates they are generally grown as pot plants indoors or in cool or intermediate conservatories. Although slow-growing, they are worth planting for their attractive foliage, compact size, and tolerance of strong sun and dry atmospheres. They have solitary, thick trunks and neat, compact crowns of generally pale-coloured leaves, divided to around half their depth into many narrow segments.

Species

B. armata, blue hesper palm, is a very handsome species, with its stiff, pale blue-gray leaves and long, slender, arching inflorescences radiating from the crown. From the ends of the dozen or so drooping inflorescences hang clusters of tiny grayish white flowers. Under cultivation, the blue hesper palm grows only to about 6 m (20 ft) and its clean, elegant, gray trunk to about 40 cm (16 in) in diameter. After the flowers have died off, a sprinkling of small, yellowish fruits appear. This species is native to southern California.

B. brandegeei, San Jose hesper palm, also from southern California, is taller and faster growing than B. armata, with a more slender trunk clad in a thatch of persistent, dead leaves.

B. dulcis, whose natural habitat is from western Mexico to Guatemala, has narrowly segmented leaves, green above, glaucous below, which are shorter than the inflorescences. The trunk grows 3-6 m (10-20 ft) tall and 15-20 cm (6-8 in) in diameter.

B. edulis, Guadelupe palm, native to Guadelupe Island, off western Mexico, is slow growing. Its stout trunk grows 50 cm (20 in) in diameter and to 10 m (33 ft) in height. The large leaves have many finely tapering segments, pale green on both sides and the inflorescences are shorter than the leaves. The large, black fruits have sweet flesh.

Cultivation

Except in frost-free areas, grow in pots or tubs under glass or indoors, in a well-drained, soil-based potting compost. Provide maximum light but shade from direct sun. Outdoors, grow in a sunny position in any soil that has good drainage. Propagate from seed sown in spring in a temperature of 27°C (81°F).

Climate

Zone 9 or 10.