Virginia Tech Dendrology

Canary Island date palm Arecaceae Phoenix canariensis hort. ex Chabaud symbol: PHCA13
Leaf: Alternate, pinnately compound, up to 20 feet long, arching gracefully; individual leaflets lance-shaped, 12 to 18 inches long, lower half of petiole covered with 2-3 inch sharp spines, shiny dark green above, feathery.
Flower: Species is dioecious; both males and females occur on dense, hanging many-branched 1 foot clusters, creamy yellow-white, opening from a husk-like structure, appearing periodically throughout the year.
Fruit: Fleshy drupe, elliptical, 1/2 to 1 inch long, orange-brown to dark purple, date-like, occurs in up to 18 inch hanging clusters, may be produced in quantity, ripen in summer and are edible.
Bark: Gray-brown, bases of dead leaves leave unique diamond shapes on the trunk.
Form: Single, massive trunk with a large round crown of up to 50 arching leaves; heights reaching over 60 feet.
Looks like: pygmy date palm - coconut palm - queen palm - royal palm

Additional Range Information: Phoenix canariensis is planted in the USDA hardiness zones shown above and is not known to widely escape cultivaton. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDA Plants Database - Horticulture Information
All material 2025 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information