PalmScapes: The Silver Date Palm

As I Wander...

Welcome!

Living in tropical Malaysia, we tend to take the hot humid weather, thundery rainstorms and the spectrum of wild evergreen plants as a given.

Recently, I noticed more exotic plants making its way into landscaped home gardens, recreational parks, frontages of shopping malls and

commercial buildings.

Along kerb sides of residential streets and busy motorways, palms, trees and flowering plants make pleasant and interesting fringes.

This is a record of the various species "as I see it" for I am in awe of palms. Hence, my premise for this blog is that the global garden,

i.e. every physical garden (tended or untended), becomes a part of my, simply said, cyber palm garden. ;-)

Please feel free to share your thoughts or comments.

Thank you for visiting!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

The Silver Date Palm

Botanical Name : Phoenix sylvestris

Native to Southern Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, it is also known as the Wild Date Palm.

This Phoenix is very adaptable and grows in a wide range of soil conditions and tolerant of drought (not a problem here!) It has a robust trunk full of frond shaft remnants. Do grow quite tall, about 30-40ft and a huge crown of fronds comprising blue green leaflets in cross crossing arrangement.

This is quite a rare batch of mature Phoenix I have seen to date sited in front of the Lot10 Shopping Mall in Bukit Bintang. The most common for landscaping needs here are the Dwarf Date Palms (P. roebelinii)

Like all the other date palms, the lower ends of the petioles have sharp spines 3-4ins long.

The Phoenix is tapped for its sap and drunk fresh or fermented or made into a jelly.

2-3 leaflets cross crossing

So, it was with awe and wonder to find them right smack by the "frenetic" roadside, hounded by excessive traffic movement, foot and vehicular and subjected to the unthinking men's man-made restrictions.