Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera - Blue Mediterranean Fan Palm Seeds

Description

The Blue Mediterranean Fan Palm, which grows in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco up to 1700 m (5600 ft.), offers all the virtues a palm enthusiast from outside the tropics could wish for. It is as robust and adaptable as its regular green relative and happy in a wide range of conditions, tolerating extremes of cold and damp, heat and drought, and full sun and shade. However, its main attraction is the color of its leaves: the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade are an intense powdery blue silver (and here we don’t mean the comparatively faint silvery color as seen on the undersides of the leaves of many Chamaerops). It is easily as silvery blue as the best Brahea armata or Bismarckia. Under the laws of botanical nomenclature this palm would actually correctly be called Chamaerops humilis var. argentea, with Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera as a synonym. We have decided to list it as Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera for the time being however, a) because it is by now a well known name in the trade and b) because the name Chamaerops humilis var. argentea has frequently but erroneously been applied to Chamaerops with silvery leaf undersides, not at all connected or comparable to the plant discussed here. We were the first to market and popularize the Blue Mediterranean Fan Palm in the early 1990’s with the help of legendary Morocco nurseryman Sadek Tazi, and our seeds are still collected in the High Atlas Mountains and provide a welcome supplemental income for local folks.