June Tree Of The Month: Senegal Date Palm

Phoenix reclinata

Senegal Date Palm is stunning in the landscape.  Its multiple trunks spread outward gracefully, creating the ambiance of a lush tropical oasis.  

It has been planted in the Santa Barbara community since the late 1800s.  It was available for purchase through the 1893 mail-order catalogue of Ralph Kinton Steven’s retail plant nursery, which was located on what is now the grounds of Ganna Walska Lotusland, where a large grove of old specimens still stands.  

Senegal Date Palm is distinctive from other palms in that it has multiple trunks growing from the base of a single plant.  The trunks are slender (4- to 8-inches in diameter) and tall (from 25- to 40-feet in height).  Close crowding of the trunks results in the younger ones leaning at a strong angle away from the base – often almost horizontally – for many feet.

Each trunk is crowned with bright-green, arching, pinnate (feather-like) fronds (10- to 20-feet long and 2- to 3-feet wide).  Each frond has up to 80 leaflets (up to 15-inches long and 1-inch wide) on each side of its midline – so, up to 160 leaflets per frond!  The leaflets are stiff, pointed, smooth and shiny on the top sides, and wooly or scaly on the bottom sides.  Fair warning: lower leaflets can become dangerously sharp spines…

Senegal Date Palm is “dioecious”, which means that male flowers occur on one palm and female flowers occur on a separate palm.  In June through July, both male flowers and female flowers develop on their inflorescences (flower-bearing stems), which emerge from within the frond crown, are 3-feet long, are multiple-branched, and are initially protected by boat-shaped spathes that will then dry and split to release the developed flowers out into the air.  Pollination is primarily done by bees.  

After pollination, female flowers develop their fruits, which hang in large clusters of bright orange dates that ripen to become brown or reddish black in color.  The fruits are technically “drupes”, because they each bear a single seed inside a layer of flesh and a thin outer skin.  They do resemble commercial dates that are sold for human consumption – but are smaller (only 1-inch in length).  While edible by humans, they lack the sweetness and soft flesh of commercial dates.  However, birds and rodents still find them delightfully tasty – and disperse the seeds.

Young trunks are covered in brown fibers and frond bases.  With age, the trunks shed these fibers and old fronds to expose a rough light-gray surface.

Senegal Date Palm is endemic to tropical and subtropical Africa, Madagascar, and the Comoros Islands.  It is usually seen in riparian areas with abundant water – but can also be found on dry rocky hillsides and grasslands.  

It is in the Arecaceae (palm) plant family.  Its botanical name is Phoenix reclinata.  The genus name, Phoenix, is Greek and means “date palm”.  The specific epithet, reclinata, is Latin and means “leaning” or “reclining”.  

In its native habitat, indigenous people have traditionally utilized Senegal Date Palm for a variety of purposes, including food from the fruits and palm hearts, palm wine from the sap, carpets and brooms from the leaf fibers, and dye from the roots.   

Senegal Date Palm is easy to grow here, as it is well-suited to our Mediterranean climate.  It adapts to many types of soil.  It can survive light frost and salt spray.  It is drought tolerant – but looks better with occasional watering.  It performs best in full sun – but can accept partial shade.  It is low maintenance, except for pruning to remove old/discolored fronds and for picking up the fruit that falls beneath female palms.  In confined areas, it can be pruned to a single trunk.  It is simple to propagate from seed, as it germinates in one or two months.

Like all other palms in the genus Phoenix, there can be considerable variability in trunk size and growth habit, because such closely-related palms freely hybridize with each other.  A pure-bred P. reclinata may be hard to find.  

Senegal Date Palm is a handsome palm that can provide a dramatic focal point in any landscape, if provided with sufficient room for its size and shape at maturity.  In our area, it is perfect for parks, commercial landscapes, and larger private gardens.    

Mature Senegal Date Palms can be seen in East and West Alameda Parks, in Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden, in Vera Cruz Park, in Chase Palm Park, on the grounds of the County Court House, around the Cabrillo Arts Pavilion, at Ganna Walska Lotusland along the Great Lawn, and in the landscaping at the harbor.          

Tree-of-the-Month articles are sponsored by Santa Barbara Beautiful, whose many missions include the increase of public awareness and appreciation of Santa Barbara’s many outstanding trees and, in a long-time partnership with the City Parks & Recreation Department, the funding and planting of trees along the City’s streets.

Those who wish to honor a special someone can do so with an attractive commemorative marker that will be installed at the base of an existing street tree in the City of Santa Barbara.  Because Santa Barbara Beautiful has participated in the planting to date of over 14,000 street trees, there are plenty of trees from which to choose!  Application forms are available on the Santa Barbara Beautiful website, www.sbbeautiful.org.  This website also contains an archive of all previously published Tree-of-the-Month articles, including photos.