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TREE NUMBER 23.
DATE PALM
(Phoenix dactylifera)
Endemic to North Africa and the Middle East, these large palms are now popular in open spaces in parks. Hybrids between species are common and include species with a single trunk as well as those that form clumps. The Date Palm has foliage with a greyish tinge, a slenderer trunk and a less symmetrical shape than its well-known close relative the Canary Island Palm (Phoenix canariensis), which usually features a massive trunk with green spherical foliage.
Compare the clumping Bell Park palms to those in Pattison Street between Hill & Granville Streets. Because the Phoenix species can hybridise easily and produce fertile crosses, determining the species within this genus might not always be possible.
One of these palms is also being strangled by a fig.
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