The genus has only 1 species so descriptions of both are the same.
The European, Dwarf or Mediterranean Fan Palm is also known as Phoenix humilis.
Native to the western and central areas of the Mediterranean region it is widely cultivated.
Palms are usually seen as shrubby clustering plants 1 to 3 m high.
Suckers from the base of the stem give rise to clumps of up to around 10 palms.
Occasionally they grow as a small solitary palm up to 6 or 7 m high.
Trunks, 15 to 30 cm across are covered in dark brown fibres and dead leaves.
Old trunks can loose most or all of the petiole bases (stubs) and fibres.
The palmate leaves are on a petiole from 30 cm to around 1 m long.
The upper (inner) surface of the petiole is flat or slightly rounded and the lower (outer) is rounded or angled.
Along the whole length the edges have upward pointing spines with a swollen base.
Young leaves have dense white scales that are gradually lost.
Old leaf sheaths disintegrate leaving a dense layer of fine fibres on the trunk.
The blades, around 1 m long and wide can be triangular to almost circular in outline.
There is a prominent, often pointed hastula on the upper petiole to blade junction.
The lower surface has no hastula or a very low one.
Radial slits divide the blades into up to around 20 segments.
The splits extend over 50% up to 75% of the distance to the base.
The stiff segments, up to 80 cm long are induplicate (edges folded up).
The tips of the segments are themselves deeply divided.
Segments have a prominent midrib and scattered to dense scales mainly on the lower surface.
Blade colour is very variable and can be a dull or shiny green or blue-green.
There may be a waxy coating making them whitish or silvery.
Male and female inflorescences are on separate plants.
Only around 15 cm long they are almost hidden by the leaf bases.
The tubular prophyll is densely covered in scales.
It splits down the sides between the 2 keels forming 2 pointed lobes at the tip.
There are no peduncular bracts.
The twice branched inflorescences have a midrib shorter than the peduncle.
There are small bracts at the base of the branches.
Short rachillae (ultimate branches) have dense solitary spirally arranged flowers.
Each flower is on a short stalk with tiny bracteoles at the base.
All flowers have a calyx with 3 pointed lobes on a short tubular base.
The 3 longer bright yellow petals, joined at the very base have pointed tips.
Male flowers have 6 stamens whose wide filament bases are fused into a staminal ring.
Bright yellow dorsifixed anthers open sideways and there are 0 to 3 tiny pistillodes.
Female flowers have 3 free carpels with a stigma that curves back.
Each carpel has 1 ovule with 1 to all of them developing into a fruit.
Anthers of the rudimentary stamens have no pollen.
Rarely the flowers are functionally bisexual.
Fruit shape varies a lot depending on how many of the 3 carpels develop.
Each spherical to oblong fruit, 1 to 2 cm long has bits of the stigmas attached.
Ripe fruit can be yellow, orange or red-brown.
A thin slightly fleshy layer surrounds the seed.
There are varieties based on the different coloured leaves.
J.F.
