Go to main contentGo to footer

Palm - Phoenix canariensis

Location
Upper Botany Garden

Native to the Canary Islands, it can be found in all islands where it is used to produce palm honey, a syrup obtained by boiling the sap extracted from incisions at the top of the trunk. It has an erect and robust trunk, of a dark brown or greyish colour, and can reach up to 15-20 m in height. The curved fronds, of a bright dark green colour, are very large and can grow up to 4-5 metres long; the petiole measures up to a metre in length and has numerous sharp spines. Canary Islands palms are dioecious plants (with male and female specimens). Their orange-brown flowers blossom in late spring among the fronds: those of female plants are longer and more showy, and in summer they are replaced by clusters of oval berries, yellow-orange in colour and about 2 cm long, edible but not particularly palatable. It is very popular as an ornamental plant in most Mediterranean regions and the subtropics, where temperatures do not fall below -10/-12 C. In Europe it is cultivated in every coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Text by
Paolo Basetti
Interested in visiting Boboli Gardens?
Arrange your visit to Florence, find prices and opening hours of the museum.

The Newsletter of the Uffizi Galleries

Subscribe to keep up to date!