The tall, graceful fan palm with a smooth trunk and a topknot of green leaves is easy recognizable. The Mexican fan palm is a skyscraper tree. Reaching a height of 100 feet tall or more it looks like a long pole with sparse greenery. It towers over almost all multistory bulidings and trees.

The Mexican fan palm is not self-cleaning and often has a skirt of turned-down brown dead fronds. For this reason it is often called the Petticoat palm.

These dead shaggy layers are flammable and known to be a fire hazard. It is a big problem in California. The high wind blows through the dead fronds and makes the fires more fierce.

The towering palms provide a shelter for rats and bats. The birds nest in the layers of dead dry leaves.

Removing of dead fronds could be very difficult and dangerous task because of palm’s height. Cleaning off the old leaves is a law in many counties of California.

The palms don’t produce annual growth rings but remain persistant leaf scars. The trunk is usually swollen at the ground.

The fan-shaped bright green leaves create a compact crown. They are 3-6 feet across. The tips of fronds arch down. The leaves have hooked spines along the edges that protect them from predators.

In the summer the Mexican fan palm produces huge inflorescences. The dangling stems of small pale beige flowers are 7-10 feet long. Later flowers transform into pea-size black berries. They are edible by Native Americans. Wild animals and birds enjoy the fruits and seeds as well.

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