PlantFiles: Guadalupe Palm
Brahea edulis

I have planted on on the sandy ocean beach in Carpinteria and it has thrived. Consequently, I believe it is very salt tolerant.

I've grown Brahea edulis in the ground since Oct. 1995 with no problems at all. I live in zone 8b and each winter I construct a simple 6mm plastic roof just over the crown to keep it dry. It has never sufferd any cold damage in all these years. There is a large specimen growing in a Seattle garden since 1989. I've been there to photograph it. That palm does flower every year. Banana Joe

This is a common avenue palm in Southern California. Many unobservant viewers think these are just short Washingtonia (Mexican Fan Palms). But if you look closely, the leaves are less split, slightly larger for the size of the palm, more markedly pleated and slightly costapalmate (have a midrib down the center of the leave at which point the leaf folds slightly; there are a lot more leaves per tree, the flowers are shorter and plumose, and the trunks are always smooth and very stocky. It is a very easy palm to grow here, and fairly fast for a palm in this area... but much slower than Washingtonia palms. The seeds/fruit are edible and about 1.5" in diameter (compare to Washingtonia seed which is 1/6th that size). It does not do well as an indoor palm.