Phoenix canariensis Hort., Arecaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: Canary date palm, Canary Island date palm

French: dattier des Canaries

Spanish: palmera Canaria

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Solitary palm. Stem to 15 (20) m tall, without leaf sheaths to 120 cm in diameter; trunk dull brown, marked with broad, diamond-shaped leaf base scars. Leaves arching, 5-6 m long; leaf base 25-30 cm wide; pseudopetiole to one fifth of total leaf length; leaf sheath reddish-brown, fibrous; acanthophylls proximally congested in arrangement, pointing in several directions, green when young, becoming yellow, to c. 20 cm long, conspicuously folded (conduplicate); leaflets closely and regularly inserted in one plane of orientation, to c. 200 on each side of rachis, often forward-pointing, c. 25 - 30 cm long; lamina concolorous, bluish-green, with adaxial and abaxial surfaces glabrous. Staminate inflorescence erect; prophyll splitting twice between margins, yellow-green with reddish-brown tomentum when young becoming brown and coriaceous, to c. 40 cm; peduncle to c. 50-70 cm long. Staminate flowers crowded along full length of rachillae; calyx an even-rimmed cupule, 1.5-2 mm high; petals to 6 x 3 mm, with apex rounded and minutely serrate. Pistillate inflorescence initially erect, becoming pendulous; prophyll splitting between margins, yellow-green, to 60 x 10 cm; peduncle yellow-green, elongating with maturity, 1.6-2 m long; rachillae yellow, elongating with fruit maturation, to c. 60 cm long. Pistillate flowers mostly in distal half of rachillae, yellow-white, with faintly sweet scent; calyx cupule c. 2.5 mm high; petals c. 3 x 4 mm. Fruit obovoid, 1.5-2.0 x c. 1.2 cm, ripening from yellow-green to golden-yellow. Seed ovoid in shape, c. 15 x 10 mm, with rounded apices; embryo lateral opposite raphe; endosperm homogeneous"  (Barrow, 1998, in Palmweb).

"Solitary stout palm. Trunk columnar, 12-16 m high, 90-140 cm in diameter, covered with large closely-placed leaf scars. Leaves many, large, widely spreading 5-6 m long, forming a dense crown; leaflets numerous, green, shining, more or less regularly arranged or paired along rachis in one plane. Inflorescence elongate. Male flowers small, c. 4 mm long, petals not acuminate; female flowers with calyx almost as long as the petals. Fruit oblong-ellipsoid, yellow to reddish with coarse, fibrous, tasteless, dry flesh, c. 2 cm long, 1.2 cm in diameter"  (Flora of Pakistan online).

Description from Flora of North America online.

Habitat/ecology:  "From sea-level up to 600 m in a range of habitats, from humid areas just below cloud forest to semi-arid areas where its presence usually indicates groundwater"  (Barrow, 1998, in Palmweb).  In the United States, "volunteer in waste places and disturbed areas; 0-1000 m"  (Flora of North America online).

Propagation:  Seed, perhaps spread by birds (Staples, Herbst & Imada, 2000; p. 16).

Native range:  Spain (Canary Islands) (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive cultivated	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced cultivated	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (pp. 493, 539, 556) "En RC, algunos ejemplares fueron plantados en el pueblo de San Juan Bautista donde se desarrollaron bien, sin por eso multiplicarse".
Federated States of Micronesia Pohnpei Islands	Pohnpei Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 86)
Federated States of Micronesia Pohnpei Islands	Pohnpei Island	introduced cultivated	Herrera, Katherine/Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy/Balick, Michael J. (2010) (p. 37)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1979) (p. 401) Recorded from the Suva Botanical Gardens
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Cultivée
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 86)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1942) (voucher ID: BISH 115767) Taxon name on voucher: Phoenix canariensis Hort.
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Jaluit (Jãlwõj) Atoll	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 86)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 111)
Niue Niue	Niue Island	introduced cultivated	Sykes, W. R. (1970) (p. 267) Voucher cited: CHR 170310

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	New South Wales	introduced invasive cultivated	National Herbarium of New South Wales (2011) "This species is naturalised amongst cultivated plants in parks and roadside plantings, often invading neighbouring disturbed natural vegetation".
China China	Hong Kong	introduced cultivated	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 295) Ornamental.
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced cultivated	Healy, A. J./Edgar, E. (1980) (p. 141)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced invasive	Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral/Imada, Clyde T. (2000) (p. 16)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced invasive	Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. (2011)

Additional information:
Information from the Global Invasive Species Database.

Additional online information about Phoenix canariensis is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Phoenix canariensis as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Phoenix canariensis may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John. 2011. Naturalized species in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile. Unpublished spreadsheet.

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1942. Voucher specimen #BISH115767(Neal, M.C. s.n.).

Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido. 2006. Nouveau catalogue de la flore vaculaire de l'archipel Juan Fernández (Chile) [Nuevo catálogo de la flora vacular del Archipélago Juan Fernández (Chile)]. Acta Bot. Gallica 153(4):399-587.

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 2011. Flora of North America North of Mexico (online edition).

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1987. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian monocotyledonae. Micronesica 20:1-126.

Healy, A. J./Edgar, E. 1980. Flora of New Zealand, Volume III: Adventive cyperaceous, petalous & spathaceous monocotyledons. Government Printer, Wellington, New Zealand. 220 pp.

Herrera, Katherine/Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy/Balick, Michael J. 2010. Checklist of the vascular plants of Pohnpei with local names and uses. Allertonia, in press. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Hawai‘i. 146 pp.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Nasir, E./Ali, S. I., eds. 1985. Flora of Pakistan. Pakistan Ag. Res. Council, Islamabad. 1970-1985, 170 vols (also on-line edition).

National Herbarium of New South Wales. 2011. PlantNet: New South Wales Flora online. The Plant Information Network System of the Botanic Gardens Trust Version 2.0. Online resource.

Palmweb. 2012. Palmweb: Palms of the World Online.

Smith, Albert C. 1979. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 1. 494 pp.

Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral/Imada, Clyde T. 2000. Survey of invasive or potentially invasive cultivated plants in Hawai‘i. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers No. 65. 35 pp.

Sykes, W. R. 1970. Contributions to the flora of Niue. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin 200, Wellington. 321 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.