Pronunciation: coe-purr-NEE-shuh bay-lee-ANN-uh
Common Name: Bailey Fan Palm
Copernicia baileyana is a spectacular, though very slow growing, fan palm that has shown surprising cold hardiness in southern California, despite its tropical origins (Cuba). It can take 20-30 years to form a trunk in California. But even as a juvenile palm, it is beautiful and makes an excellent specimen. The leaves are very large, amazingly geometrically precise and so stiff that even the leaflet tips do not bend much in the wind.
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Appearance and Biology
- Habit: solitary with a crown of 30-50 fan leaves
- Height: 30' estimated
- Trunk: single; 18" or more (estimated); concrete-like pillar; clean or with retained, wide leaf bases
- Crownshaft: none
- Spread: 14'
- Leaf Description: palmate to barely costapalmate; flat, very stiff; circular; leaves divided about 1/4 their length; 70-80 leaflets in a mature leaf; medium to grey green; 8' long and about 5' in diameter
- Petiole/Leaf bases: 3' long; light, yellow-green to nearly white with orangish stripe down middle of ventral surface; heavily armed with hooked, closely spaced, jet-black teeth with some fuzz between them when newly opened; stiff, moderately channeled to flat near blade; leaf bases unsplit and very wide (over 6" across in mature palms)
- Reproduction: monoecious
- Inflorescence: 7'-9' long from within leaves and extending beyond their length; with many branches; cream colored flowers
- Fruit: 3/4"; spherical and dark brown when ripe
- Seed:
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Horticultural Characteristics
- Minimum Temp: 26F
- Drought Tolerance: moderate
- Dry Heat Tolerance: good
- Cool Tolerance: moderate
- Wind Tolerance: moderate
- Salt Tolerance: poor
- Growth Rate: very slow to slow with advanced age
- Soil Preference: widely adaptable
- Light Requirement: full sun
- Human Hazards: very sharp, hooked petiolar teeth can make trimming dangerous; leaves heavy when fall
- Disease or Horticultural Problems: none
- Transplants?: unknown
- Indoor?: poor choice
- Availability: rare, but often available at specialty nurseries, though larger plants extremely rare and extremely costly
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