Pronunciation: muh-DEE-me-uh AHR-goon
Common Name: Medemia Palm; Nubian Desert Palm
Medemia argun is a very rare North African fan palm that was thought extinct for many years until it was rediscovered in the 1990s in the middle of the desert. Though it has been a real challenge to get this finicky palm to grow here (despite its obvious hardiness in the brutal heat are aridity of the desert), some have managed to eke this one along in California… so far nothing with a real trunk yet, though. Though seems ideally suited for desert life, growing very well in tropical climates where it rains an awful lot (Miami and Thailand).
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Appearance and Biology
- Habit: solitary with a crown of 15-25 fan leaves
- Height: 15' estimate
- Trunk: single; 1' thick; retained leaf bases until large enough (maturing) to have those fall away and reveal a clean trunk
- Crownshaft: none
- Spread: 10'-14'
- Leaf Description: markedly costapalmate; 6'-8' long; blue-grey to grayish-green; leaves fairly deeply divided (3/4 or more of the length of the leaflets); yellow midrib; often a skirt of dead leaves retained for a few years before they fall off
- Petiole/Leaf bases: 2' long; yellow to yellow-green with blackish-purple near leaf base; sparsely armed with sharp black teeth; split leaf bases, often retained on trunk for many years
- Reproduction: dioecious
- Inflorescence: from within crown; 2' long; branched; look like Bismarckia flowers
- Fruit: ovoid; 2"; jet black when ripe
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Horticultural Characteristics
- Minimum Temp: 32F
- Drought Tolerance: excellent (once established)
- Dry Heat Tolerance: excellent
- Wind Tolerance: good
- Salt Tolerance: unknown
- Growth Rate: very slow
- Soil Preference: alkaline; sandy possibly; extremely well draining; constantly warm
- Light Requirement: full sun
- Human Hazards: petiolar teeth, though spread out, still sharp
- Disease or Horticultural Problems: very difficult to grow in most areas of California
- Transplants?: unknown, but likely poor
- Indoor?: no way
- Availability: very rare, only occasionally showing up on seed lists and rare occurrence in palm specialty nurseries
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