Surprises in Palermo
Italys big island has a lot of palms to discover,
and many other attractions.
Juergen Plaumann, Grenzstr. 36, D-86156 Augsburg,
Germany, qvintvs@surfeu.de
Chamaerops No.41, Winter Edition 2001
Readers comments
on this article:
Click here to read them or to add your own.
1 and 2. Butia x Jubaea hybride
3. Chamaerops humilis in Agrigent
4. Brahea edulis in Palermo
In the end of March and the beginning April 2000,
I went to see a friend of my youth in Palermo. I was especially
interested in palms and archeology, which can both be found in Sicily.
After doing some research, I found out that there is only one native
palm, Chamerops humilis, on the island. According to my guidebook,
it has been used by people to produce besoms. The only place where
these palms could be found seemed to be Zingaro National Park, and
so I left my small identification book for palms (M. Gibbons, The
Palm Identifier) at home.
When I arrived at the airport in the south of Palermo,
many palms welcomed me. My heart beat faster even though they were
"only the common" Phoenix and some Chamaerops humilis.
After a small snack, I was given a sightseeing-tour in town, even
though I was very tired. On weekends, all the streets in town are
blocked. Nevertheless, the Palermitans do not want to leave their
cars at home, so the average speed was 20 km/h. Only near the roads
and in some plant-boxes could I discover some palms; among them
there were already several species that were new for me. As I did
not have my identification-book with me, I took pictures and tried
to describe them amateurishly. I will come back to this later.
My hosts referred me to a square called Piazza Castelnuovo,
from which I could reach all the important places in Palermo, and
which also happened to be my bus-station. Of course the Piazza struck
me especially because of the palms I found there, including Phoenix
dactylifera and P. canariensis, which were planted a long time ago.
I slept my fill the following day and later was taken to town on
Giovannis motorbike. He left me at Piazza Castelnuovo, and
I had two hours to look around the place. I scrutinized closely
the plants I had only briefly seen the day before, noting that they
were quite tall. As I am not able to estimate very well, I can only
say that they were as tall as the buildings around them that had
four or five floors. It was very easy to find seeds but quite difficult
to distinguish the species. Along with small dates, I also picked
up some red to dark red fruits of the same size. I knew these fruits
from my trip to Lanzarote as Phoenix canariensis, but here they
were bigger. I could not find out if it were dates that were not
yet ripe, or fruits from Phoenix canariensis. Because of their appearance,
I would take them to be the latter.
On the way to Teatro Politeama Garibaldi, I discovered
two fan palms I had never seen before. They were about 3.5 m high;
the trunk was massive, thickened at its base; the fans were divided
to their half, were green, quite hard and stable against wind; at
the trunk there were stigmas of leaves to be seen, and several inflorescences
that did not hang over very far. With the help of Tobias W. Spanner,
I have identified these as Brahea edulis. The palms might have had
fruit, but I could not find any seeds on the ground.
On the next day, my "archeological heart"
beat faster, and as Giovannis sister wanted to test her new
car, we made a trip to Solunto which is in the east of Palermo.
While the remains of the Greeks and Romans were meager, there were
many bushes of Chamaerops humilis. The antique town lay on an arid
hill that formed the boundary of a fruitful plain. The distance
to the sea was not more than 150 m. Today's settlements are directly
at the coast or in the fruitful plain. Here, oranges, lemons, olives
and many other fruits are cultivated. The arid hills poor
agricultural conditions allow enough space for the Chamerops humilis
to grow. As described in the article about Chamaerops humilis at
the Costa Blanca in Spain (Chamerops 27, Costa del Chamerops by
Dr. Neil Butler), the plants here are small and grow in compact
bushes. They reach a height of not more than 1.6 m and often grow
to a diameter of 2-3 m. There are also great numbers of seeds, as
there are no sheep or goats that could do any harm to the plants
in this area. So, in the foreseeable future, the whole environment
ensures the local stock of palms.
Near Trapani, 75 km west of Palermo, the situation
is similar. The coast is interrupted again and again by mountains
and arid hills, which are not proper at all for agricultural usage.
Between them are areas of agriculture and tourism, where one can
find only cultivated palms. The very old village Erice, not far
from Trapani, also lies on a mountain near the coast. Fruitful plains
surround it. The partly preserved Punic wall forms the boundary
of the village and there are no modern buildings outside the old
town. On the slopes, which are sometimes very steep, numerous Chamaerops
have established themselves. Even here, the stock seems not to be
endangered.
At the southern coast of Sicily, there is an antique
town with a wonderful location called Agrigent. The area is laid
out step-like in several terraces, and has a historical character.
Like nearly everywhere near the coast of Sicily, this area is also
covered with the summerhouses of many modern inhabitants of Agrigent.
The landscape slowly rises to a distinct stone-step, with a difference
in altitude of about 510 m. The antique Agrigent lies on this
step, which is a sort of archeological protectorate. The ground
is full of stones and there are plantations of olives. In a small
stripe around this stone-step, a lot of Chamaerops humilis grow.
They have found room in the smallest ledges and rock-fissures. In
spite of the very dry area with a maximum of sunshine, they grow
splendidly. But they are a bit smaller than are those around Erice
and Solunto. As there are no intruders, such as goose or sheep,
and only numbers of tourists, the local stock is safe, too. Those
who want to make themselves acquainted with the different conditions
of Chamaerops humilis, who want to test and explore the natural
location, will find good possibilities on Sicily, especially on
the western side of the island.
In Palermo itself, I discovered several Chamaerops
that have developed trunks. It seems to me as if this only happens
when they are cultivated by human beings. This is my theory: Those
Chamaerops which are cultivated as ornamental plants get more water
than those that grow in their natural environment, and brown leaves
are cut off. This promotes the formation of a trunk. Maybe there
is one person between the palm-fans who can tell me more about that.
But now let's go back to Palermo. From my lodging
I had about an hours walk to the center, so I took the opportunity
and went to town by different ways. At Viale Lazio, I discovered
a small park with a playground and some benches. Among orange-trees,
mimosas, cactus and sukkulentas, there were of course some palms.
There were Syagrus romanoffiana, Washintonia robusta, Brahea sp.
Chamaerops humilis, Trachycarpus fortunei (these were in bad condition;
maybe it was too hot and dry), and in the shade of a small bridge,
Chamaedorea. All of them were robust and very impressive. Along
the streets one could sometimes find Phoenix and again and again
there were Chamaerops humilis (which had formed trunks) in small
front gardens. After 1.5 km on the way to the center, I discovered
another garden that was larger and beautifully arranged with fountains,
a bar (coffee and ice cream), a playground, and benches. Its name
is Giardino Inglese. There grew some palms that were new to me,
like Brahea armata for instance. Here is a short description of
another palm I saw: big, massive trunk, thickened at it's base,
upwards getting thinner, the pinnate leaves are green, silvery below,
the spathes grow out of the bases of young leaves, the seeds have
a length of about 2,5 cm, a diam. of about 1,5 cm and show three
points. Even when I was back in Augsburg and tried to identify the
palms, I found nothing that matched. And again I got help from Tobias
Spanner in Munich. He identified them as a Butia x Jubaea hybrid.
It is uncommon that they produce seeds. I found this rare palm in
Giardino Garibaldi, but unfortunately, there were no seeds.
A special place for me was the botanical garden,
Orto Botanico. There is an avenue with Washingtonia sp., which are
quite tall, and a separate small park for palms. According to the
plant signs, there were Bismarckia nobilis, Chamaerops humilis,
Trachycarpus fortunei, Ravenea rivularis, Syagrus macrocarpa, Sabal
yaba, Corypha gebanga, Jubaea chilensis, Phoenix reclinata, P. rupicola,
P. robelenii, P. theophrastii, P. humilis, P. atlantica, P. pusilla,
P. acaulis, Arenga engleri, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, Brahea
armata, Trithrinax campestris, Cocothrinax martii, Sabal beccariana,
Washingtonia filferia and robusta, Trinax argentea, Dypsis pinnatifrons,
Butia yatay, and so on. When writing down the last name and describing
the palm, an employee of the botanical garden passed by and told
me that the name on the sign was wrong and the palm is not called
Butia bonneti but B. yatay. As such, I cannot guarantee that this
list of names is correct. It was the first time in my life that
I saw such a great number of palms in such impressive sizes and
in such a variety. I was very impressed and went several times to
Orto Botanico, a fact my hosts could not understand. It is nothing
special for them to see palms as they are literally growing nearly
everywhere in Palermo. I really recommend Palermo to anyone who
has just started studying palms, and I am sure there is still much
to discover.
Finally, I would like comment on the reputation
of Palermo as the center of the Mafia. In my experience, it is made
to seem worse than it really is. I always put my camera in my backpack
and money inside the pockets of my jacket, and nothing was stolen
from me, even though I walked alone through empty lanes.

Readers Comments:
(No comments yet. Be the first to add a comment to
this article!)
|
 |
 |
02-02-23 - 11:03GMT
|
 |
What's New? |
 |
New palm book |
Date: 24-05-2004 |

An Encyclopedia
of Cultivated Palms
by Robert Lee Riffle, Paul Craft. |
 |
New: Issue 48 |
Date: 24-05-2004 |
Chamaerops
48
has been published in the Members Area. |
 |
Archive complete! |
Date: 03-12-2002 |
All Chamaerops issues can now be found in the archive:
More than 350 articles are on-line! |
 |
Issues 13 to 16 |
Date: 28-08-2002 |
Chamaerops mags 13,
14,
15
and 16
have been added to the members area. More than 250 articles are now online! |
 |
42 as free pdf-file |
Date: 05-08-2002 |
Free
Download! Chamaerops No. 42 can be downloaded for free to intruduce the new layout and size to
our visitors |
 |
Issues 17 to 20 |
Date: 23-07-2002 |
Chamaerops mags 17,
18,
19
and 20
have been added to the members area. Now 218 articles online! |
 |
Book List |
Date: 28-05-2001 |
Take
a look at our brand new Book List edited by Carolyn Strudwick |
 |
New Book |
Date: 25-01-2001 |
'Palmen
in Mitteleuropa'
by Mario Stähler
This german book tells you all about how to cultivate your palms in Central Europe. more... |
 |
|
|
|
|