Syagrus romanzoffiana - Queen Palm

The ever present Queen Palm. Very popular palm, they line main street of Capitola Village. On a recent tree walk with a friend he noticed a planting of these with Rhododendrons underneath, smiled, scratched his head and said something like, only in California.

This is a solitary growing palm, 40-60' x 10-15' wide. Upright arching leaves on a clean and smooth trunk. Commonly planted in rows, in clumps or solitary, out of place. So common that a cheap place to buy them is Costco. These are in Watsonville.

The leaves of this palm are pinnate, 8-15' long with lots of lateral leaflets (14-18" long) that are usually limp and weeping. Easily tattered by winds. Generally medium to dark green, they will turn yellow in basic soils.

The leaves on this palm are attached all the way around the stem. Have a look. They have what is called a clasping attachment, like grasses and bamboos.

The smooth bark is a real asset to this palm. The small "scars" on the trunk are in fact scars from where the leaf was attached and you can see the vascular tissue connections easily.

Unlike most all of the other palms around here which hang on to the base of the petiole for years, these fall clean and require no maintenance other than cleaning up those on the ground.

Flowers are small, white, monoecious (male and female on same plant but on separate flowers) on a 20-40" long weeping stalk. Flower stalk coming from within the foliage.

There are only about 10 palms that you will likely encounter here and we will cover most of them. Four are really common.

Misidentification: You are not likely to see many, but the King Palm, Archontophoenix cunninghamii may look somewhat like this but you can tell the difference easily by looking at the stem near where the leaves are attached. The king palm has a smooth crown shaft and a cleaner look. Compare these above and those below.

Pinus pinea - Italian Stone Pine

I love this tree, especially when is has the room to grow and has some years under its belt. The form is way cool, broadly and shallowly domed, with numerous thick upright stems and awesome bark.

I hope I will live long enough to see Graham Hill Rd in SV with a mature stand, but until then I have to close my eyes as I drive by hoping they don't pull the trees because they interfere with trucks.

There is a nice example of this type of planting on Clubhouse Dr in RDM. Notice the lifting of the asphalt, oops.

Large evergreen conifer, slow to moderate growth rate to 40-80' with 40-60' spread. Mature trees are slightly domed shaped, with the majority of the foliage in the upper part of the tree. Main stem often branches low into multiple upright spreading primary scaffold branches. Or, it may make a single stemmed tree with the laterals up near the top of the canopy. This one is in Rome, looking out the Coliseum.

Here is an example of a young tree. Notice how wide and full it is. It will get wider as it gets taller also. But it is a pretty nice symmetrical ball at this age.

The leaves are clustered in groups of 2's, stiff, slightly twisted and not prickly, dark green, 4-7" long. Leaves last 3 years generally. Sheath is brown to gray, 1/4" long.

Foliage is held tightly against the stem. Notice how the leaves are laying down along the stem. A good thing to look at when ID-ing pines.

Cones are ovate shaped, 3-5", heavy and think, reddish brown when mature, opening almost round. Large thick scales reflex back to release the large edible seeds that you might know as pine nuts. Look at a cone on the ground and you will see that when they fall they usually leave a ring of scale behind on the tree, same as a ponderosa pine.

The bark is, well what can I say. The first picture is of me at Kew Gardens. Thick, reddish on the scales, dark brown to black in the furrows. What a nicer way to show off the bark that to have the foliage way up high.


Note sure how long this link will last but here is a picture of the tree from the kew gardens website

Here is a picture of a grove in a protected area in Spain. Really cool to see them in their natural habitat.

Misidentification:
P. cembrioides, very short needles, small tree, tiny cones with pinyon seeds.
P. controta, has very short leaves and very much smaller cones, not really common.
P. densiflora has very thin leaves and every much smaller cones as well as being clustered, less common as well.
P. halepensis has thin leaves, found on the freeways usually.
P. mugo, small shrub generally,
P. nigra, leaves dark, stiff, white buds, yellowish tan cones, 
P. pinea, leaves thicker, stiffer, look for the leaves on new shoots on this one to be laying almost flat and forward as well as being retained longer.
P. sylvestris, bluish green leaves, distinctly twisted, smaller cones, reddish bark, not common.
P. thunbergii, thicker needles, often yellowish green, very sharp and usually twisted.

Location: Capitola: 4 or 5 nice ones in a row on Clares St south of 42nd Ave.

Scotts Valley: Potential on Graham Hill in SV.

Watsonville: Love the parking lot at Watsonville Memorial hospital on Airport Blvd.
Along the side of the County Building on Freedom.

Pinus canariensis - Canary Island Pine

Certainly one of the most commonly planted pine trees in our area. Usually quite easy to identify from a distance. Tall and skinny, sort of billowy for the most part with pendulous long needles. Very tolerant of urban conditions, seems to like dry soils but tolerates wetter sites and does well in poor soils. Here is a group planted at Stanford U.

The Canary Island pine is a moderate to fast growing pine to about 50-80' tall and 20-30' wide. Pyramidal when young becoming conical mid-aged and eventually flat topped (see the one below at the Huntington Garden). Main trunk thick very straight. Laterals short (but can be long) and typically upright eventually becoming horizontal with the tips curving up at the ends, creating a somewhat layered tree or appearing whorled or billowy as I mentioned.

The linear needle-like leaves, retained 1.5-3 years are in fascicles of 3 with a persistent 1" sheath, and are 6 - 12" long. They are bright green to yellow-green, and slender which is why the longer ones droop gracefully with their weight.  Shoots stout, buff to yellow-brown, and rough from the non-photosynthetic leaves.

You will see lots of juvenile foliage on this species, along the trunk or near cut branches. They are borne singly, light bluish colored, and about an inch long.

Buds are about 1" long and already contain all the leaves that will grow that season.

Male cones are clustered at the ends of lower shoots, opening up to be yellow, releasing lots of pollen. After these fall off you will spaces on the branch without any leaves. Do not be mistaken that something is wrong or is dropping leaves.

Female cones are slightly curved on short stout stalks, glossy chestnut-brown symmetrical, hard, heavy, ovoid-conic, 4-8" long.

As they open.

The bark is extremely thick, reddish, with small flaky plates separated by shallow furrows.

This is what they like to do to them in Southern California.

Here are two I saw several weeks ago growing at the base of the SF Bay Bridge.

Misidentification:  Be sure to count the needles and look at the length as well as them being soft. Pinus coulteri also has long needles in 3's but they are blue, very stiff and the tree is more rounded. 

Other 3 needle pines in our area:
P. attenuata, Knobcone Pine is native to the northern county and can be seen in UCSC wild areas. Cones are very different, in large clusters on the main stems and held for years.
P. canariensis, much longer softer needles, longer cones, much fuller habit but more or less the same overall shape but way full.
P. coulteri, longer bluer leaves, more stiff and dont seem to droop on the stems, not as restricted to the ends of the branches as they last 3-4 years. Much broader habit. There are some around.
P. jefferyi, the cones are different in that the prickle on the scale is curved inward and will not stick you and you will not likely see one in SC.
P. radiata, covered earlier, dark green leaves, shorter and softer.

Phoenix canariensis - Canary Island Palm

Canary Island palm is perhaps one of the most recognized palms in Santa Cruz. Which is interesting because it looks so different when young. An impressive tree when lining streets or in large groups. My guess is you would be wise to transplant tall trees onto a street as they are not very pedestrian friendly when young. These are on the corner of Broadway and Cayuga St in the Seabright area.

Palms do not develop secondary wood, they don't get wider as they age. All the width of a palm is developed at the ground level by adding new tissue to existing tissues. As you may know these seem to take forever to "off the ground" but once they do they actually grow pretty fast. This one has been here awhile. You can see the base of the palm is already as wide as it will get. Does this make sense? Very different than a maple tree.

The canary island palm is a large, slow growing when young, single stemmed palm, up to 60' with a large round head maybe 20-30' wide with over 100 leaves. Trunk about 2-3' wide.

Leaves are pinnate shaped, 10-20' long arched up and out, dark green leaflets, stiff. The ones closest to the trunk are spine like and very sharp, not a great plant around kids.

Flowers are borne in the foliage, near the bottom on a large 2-6' stalk, male and females on different plants. Fruit on the females only, a large yellow/orange fleshy drupe.

The trunks are smooth, well, not like a queen palm but not like others that leave the base of the petiole attached, but they do leave scars where the leaves were attached. The common management technique is to cut them off making for a smooth trunk. The pruning usually goes too high and you end up with something resembling a pineapple. When the leaves fall on their own they leave behind a diamond shaped scar.

Leaf bases not yet ready to fall off, someone pruned them to keep the fronds from falling on someone or something. This is the pineapple.

Plants are known to be susceptible to a disease called lethal yellowing, caused by a phytoplasma, a bacteria that only lives in the phloem of plants and transmitted by leafhoppers. One of the palms at RDM beach was diagnosed as such and died and was removed and replaced with a Wind Palm.

Misidentification. Not sure, look at the leaves, large pinnate type, large thick trunk, rough but without leaf bases attached, staying short and very broadly non-pedestrian friendly for a long time.

Way denser head (more leaves) and darker green than P. dactylifera, the date palm of which there are not a lot around (go out San Juan Rd near about 1480 and on the left side you will see one).

Location:

Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca' - Blue Atlas Cedar

Such a beautiful tree, especially when old. A bit stiff and awkward when young. A several hundred year old tree at Bodnant Gardens, Wales.

Large evergreen conifer, slow growing to 60-80' x 30' wide. Generally upright and stiff. Full canopy, great color. Main leader is vertical, main lateral branches strongly ascending often coming off the main trunk and curving 90 degrees to vertical then flattening out. The secondary laterals are horizontal and relatively short, and very stiff, but the tips do weep a bit. Much more stiff than the Deodars. An averaged aged tree in Chico.

Foliage linear, needle like, bluish to silvery blue, usually not longer than 1", with 20-30 on a spur. Sharp and stiff.

Young stems thickly pubescent. Secondary branches are flat, horizontal in more or less one plane.

Male and female stroboli (Flowers) appearing from June to September. Males distinctly upright, 3-4" long x 3/4" wide. You can see remnants of males in the image above.

Female cones cylindrical, with level or concave top, 2-4" long, up to 2" wide, glossy, light brown, maturing in September and October and shedding scales. Cones disintegrate on the tree leaving only the central stalk behind. The scales are about 1" across, or less, while the deodar cedar scales are almost 2" across.

Bark is grayish brown, shallowly fissured, somewhat alligator skin like.

Noted cultivar and all around great plant for residential neighborhoods is Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca Pendula'. Some references list this as a cultivar of Cedrus libani.  Great. So some experts put C. atlantica in with C. libani as C. libani var. atlantica.

Cool use of the plant.

Misidentification:
Other true cedars (especially the Cedar of Lebanon). Notice the tree on the left, rigid, green, most likely Cedrus libanii.

When blue it will not be easily mistaken however greener forms exist. I was told years ago that the primary scaffold branches are always vertical while deodar cedars were flat, but that does not hold true. look at the orientation of the secondary branches, on the deodar they are weeping while on this they are very flat.

Location:

Chionanthus retusus - Chinese fringetree

Every once in while I see something out of the corner of my eye on a street that I am on all the time and wham.... April 1, a sunny day after so many rainy days, we were on our bikes coming out of Capitola Village on Monterey Blvd. and off to the left something catches my eye. I stop, tell my wife, I have to go see if that's what I think it is....

Sure enough, in full bloom, a beautiful specimen of the Chinese Fringetree. I have only seen a few in scattered locations in town, not that there aren't more of them.

The Fringetree is a beautiful, small, deciduous, pure white flowering tree. Slow to medium growth to 15-25' feet tall with a spreading to rounded crown, 10-15' wide. Often single-stemmed tree, can be found multi-stemmed as well.

The leaves are variable and there seems to be two distinct types, the northern type and the southern type. Opposite, simple, ovate to narrow-elliptical to oblong, 3-4" long, leathery, younger plants have serrated margins, bright green above, lighter green and downey below. The stems are also squared and grooved at the nodes. One could get technical and maybe consider the leaf arrangement sub-opposite at times.

Lower surface, showing the downey hairs along the midrib. This one below showing the netuse notched leaf tip.

Flowering this year on April 1. Pure white flowers on male and female plants. Petals are thin, Fragrant, blooming out on the ends of the branches in 3" long panicles. Males are generally more attractive in bloom.

Female plants produce an olive shaped, dark blue fleshy fruit (a drupe) about 1/2" long ripening in late summer or early fall.

The bark is gray and peeling or tight with ridges. I have not seen any with peeling bark, only like this.

Fall color is okay, yellowish, but not great. These are located at the Watsonville location.

Considered difficult to propagate and maybe why it it not very common.

Related to a native of Southeastern US, C. virginicus, White Fringetree or the Old-man's beard. (I have not seen this locally.)

Tolerant of full sun or partial shade, and not particular about soils. Rumored to be tolerant of clay soils as well but needs decent drainage and I am not sure if those 2 things can be found in one soil. Nice small tree, pretty in bloom, possible fall color, drought tolerant, sounds good.

Misidentification:

Location:
110 Fanmar in Capitola. Maybe male
Corner of Westgate Dr and Airport Blvd. in Watsonville. Nice cluster of specimens, well done.
4690 Crystal St. in Capitola, female for sure.
High St, along side the wall of the school by the mission

This is a nice one at Filoli in Woodside.

Some beautiful ones at Stanford Univ. http://trees.stanford.edu/images/chionanthus_gal/index.htm