Palms For California

Pronunciation: biz-MARK-ee-uh NO-bill-iss

Common Name: Bismarck Palm

Bismarckia nobilis is a large, solitary Madagascan palm with immense mildly costapalmate, stiff leaves of either dull green or various shades of waxy blue or grey. It is widely considered one of the most ornamental and majestic palms one can grow in California. Green forms of this palm grow rapidly in the tropics, but are rather marginal in most areas of California, only managing to grow to adulthood in the most ideal climates (frost-free coastal, or nearly frost free inland low deserts). However, the blue, grey and white forms are much hardier and faster growing in a Mediterranean climate and perform excellently along the coast as well as far inland as the low deserts. Damage to young plants during moderate to severe frosts often results in complete defoliation, but surprisingly many still recover. Plant this one where you want it (remembering it gets enormous) because it is a very hard palm to transplant successfully (root trauma often results in the death of the palm). Available from single leaf seedling to large boxes nowadays. Very commonly available, even at large home garden centers sometimes.

Morphology (Identification) Habit: solitary with huge crown of up to 2 dozen leaves Height: 30 feet Spread: 14'-16' Trunk: 16"-24" and clean except for a few dead leaves near top of trunk Leaf Shape and Color: palmate to mildly costapalmate, very stiff and often with a waxy coating; color ranges from green (to lime green if struggling) to the more hardy colors of grey, grey-green, blue-green to silver blue Petiole: no teeth but extremely sharp; deeply channeled; 4'-8' long; leaf base very wide, with wide split where attaches to trunk Reproduction: dioecious; best to germinate seeds in a deep pot (first root tends to be pretty long) Inflorescence: stiff, rope-like and branched Fruit: green turning dark brown in maturity about 2", or 3" if fertilized seed within Seed: sperical about 2" in diameter, brown

Horticultural Characteristics Minimum Temperature: Green form- 28F; Blue or Grey forms- 22F (improves with maturity) Drought Tolerance: moderate to good with maturity but still likes a lot of water Heat Tolerance: excellent Wind Tolerance: fair to good (blue forms more tolerant than green) Salt Tolerance: moderate Soil Preference: prefers well draining, rich soils, but fairly tolerant of high clay content and sandy soils Light Requrement: full sun Growth Rate: slow to moderate, becoming moderately fast with maturity Human Hazards: very sharp petiole blades (easy to injure oneself if pruning without gloves) Disease Problems: few in California Transplanting?: very difficult to transplant once forming a trunk- best to plant where you want it forever Indoor?: poor choice for indoors due to extremely high light requirements, no to mention size Availability: commonly available now even from garden outlet nurseries, at least in California