Arizona's Only Native Palm Tree

Washingtonia fillifera , the California Fan Palm - is the only palm species that is truly native to Arizona - the rest are what we call "horticultural atrocities".... species planted out of ecological context by the horticultural industry because they are thought to imply an illusion of and relation to "paradise".
However the California Fan Palm is cool enough on its own. In this episode we explore the ecology of this plant and the refugial canyon in which it grows, along with some other notable plants like Jojoba , Simmondsia chinensis and Koeberlinia spinosa, at the Western edge of its range here.
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[@elizaonthemountain3464]

The intense lightning storms in those canyons could certainly cause the fire damage you witnessed. Many times my dad and I have been mesmerized watching lightning go crazy from Sheep Mountain and north up that range of mountains east of Yuma, Az. Those storms last longer than you can imagine. Your videos are brilliant. Thank you for doing them.

[@wepaworldview7245]

Got caught in a crazy one at the mouth of Tunnel Mine canyon this spring, that shit was no joke. Had to dig a ditch thru the ground under my tarp to cook because the ground just got so saturated from pouring rain. Then the lightning, omg what a beauty

[@marywolf1824]

This video is a treat, never thought I would see this refuge. Many thanks! I spent a few years working at a site in Tucson that had a bunch of Washingtonia filifera. It was cool to watch them throughout the year, flowering and making fruit. The fronds are huge and heavy, with savage shark teeth all along the stem. I was wary about having one fall on me. Lots of birds, lizards and hornets lived up in the fronds.

[@briank592]

we had to cut one down cause it was too close to a pool, and let me tell you, some of the biggest scorpions i have ever seen were nesting up in under the plams skirt! spooky thing to run up on when atop a big ladder!

[@littleshell406]

I love the Sonoran desert. It is such a diverse place for plants and animals and does it with very little rain and extreme heat

[@jamesmasters8924]

I love your channel. Have you ever talked to Brian and Jade over at Mellow Cactus Nursery? I know them very well if you want to contact them. They are a small off the grid cactu nursery outside of kingman who specialize in transplanting Carnegiea and growing and preserving native plants in the tri-state area. Your channel is kind of a big deal for all of us. Thanks for everything!

[@R.J._Lewis]

Tony, you are so very well versed in so many aspects of the natural world, it's genuinely remarkable and impressive. The fact that you know so many plants and so much about them, across a huge range of environments and biomes, AND the rock types, AND the natural histories. I am always blown away by the length and breadth of your knowledge.

[@nopelindoputraperkasa5869]

I am from Indonesia very impressed to see the plants you show in the video,The trees look very beautiful and aesthetic, very stunning 🤍👍👌👏👏

[@donchristie420]

Hope he goes to Indonesia to showcase your wonderful place😊

[@krissteel4074]

One of the most interesting and scenic clips you've shot. The relic populations of other times are really intriguing how they manage to hang on and keep going despite the rest of the area being inhospitable. Reminds me a bit of north western Australia where you can find similar rock and canyon structures that also enable otherwise isolated pockets for plants like the Millstream Palm, Boab and Kimberley Rose

[@randbasic]

Yeah we have got them in the Cali desert. Very “weedy” though. The Rufous-backed robins show up in spring eat all the fruits and then plaster everything with their purple excrement and palm seeds. Robins Latin name is “Turdus” and these do that in water bowls everywhere.

[@randbasic]

@@WanderingMiqo they grow all around me. The seeds are constantly sprouting. Its native. If water touches the 1000s of seeds they sprout and they start taking over. They belong here. I’m fine with that. But I wouldn’t suggest filling your yard with them because the birds spread them everywhere. When it rains or you have a spot that you plant other plants in. They come up in the 1000’s the seeds look like popcorn kernels. The birds poop jet black purple dumps everywhere. They planted them all over LA & Hollywood. Those are the tall palm trees that line the streets. Same thing

[@nathandale3415]

It's as if people picked up the terrible betel nut habit from birds, except for the pooping. Other notable Turdidae: I've seen flocks(!) of Varied Thrush when there are large crops of ripe madrone berries.

[@TheDanEdwards]

​@@randbasic" The seeds are constantly sprouting. Its native. " - _Washingtonia robusta_ is much more common, and invasive, in California than _W. fillifera_ . At least around my area, there are probably 100x as many _robusta_ (invasive) than _fillifera_ (native.)

[@randbasic]

@@TheDanEdwards 100% I’m just complaining about having to weed out my landscape beds that I plant with other native plants. If I had a few acres I wouldn’t care. The purple poop I could do without too. lol 😂 I’m located in its native habitat.

[@dave_crates]

Born in AZ, now living in chicago this scenery always makes my heart sing

[@darinjenke2813]

The kofa mountains are one of my favorite ranges I study the flora of the range often. Washingtonia fillifera also occurs at Castle Hot Springs near Lake Pleasant. This population was used to describe the species as it was the first location it was collected. It's the other native population. You also missed out on all the other rare plants like Berberis harrisoniana, Kofa mountain oaks part of the very odd Quercus turbinella in the isolated desert mountains in SW Arizona " Quercus ajoensis or garlic oak", Nolina bigelovii or big love nolina. There should be a Morus microphylla but we did not find it when I was helping out with the flora for the range.

[@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt]

I've seen them before but only had a few hours to be here, couldn't head deeper. There was a Nolina in this canyon but I didn't film it

[@allencrider]

I enjoyed this one because I moved to Quartzsite AZ for the winter to live in a canvas tent and life the life of Burning Man for Old People. Learning about the creosotes was mind blowing.

[@fortehbirds]

I think a cholla shirt with the tag line “enemy to dogs everywhere and proof that god doesn’t love golfers” would do well 😂

[@Barakon]

Cholla as in the parrot toy cactus?! Nice.

[@FordFlatSix]

Washingtonia filifera can also be found in the canyons that surround Joshua Tree National Park.

[@racheller8753]

I enjoy the the Bismarck/silver saw palm!! They're beautiful!!!

[@RobinMarks1313]

Oh my, are you taking this Sunday morning church video stuff seriously? This video takes the cake for holiness. For what do my eyes see this glorious Morn? A natural church with it's alter high on the horizon. With the sun beaming directly into our faces, as it bursts and beams high up into the sky. Blazing. A cathedral of nature is on full display - with all of her gifts and magic. Amen.

[@Sammy-dz2hk]

I do be smoking a fatty blunt with the big JC my boy Jesus, he out here smoking that holy Trinity OG

[@billyd7628]

sneed

[@rybug]

​@@Sammy-dz2hkholy trinity and cheech and chong mega blunt

[@diannacooper1809]

Beautiful sunrise and mountain view ahead! Well done in starting this video!! Love Ya Brother!

[@sagetmaster4]

Would love to go with you in the madrean sky islands in SE Az if you're ever around, been to some really prime examples of ecosystem at various elevations and mountain ranges

[@kingjsolomon]

Sitting in my backyard looking at 5 of these in the neighbors yard in Northern Ca, beautiful!

[@Dman90]

This is a banger of a episode 👍👍

[@patcaribou]

There are some gnarly peaks in them thar mountains.

[@TheVoyageBotanica]

Awesome plant walk! I love that area!

[@ecomandurban7183]

Go ---- yourself, I am so envious of you being able to go to and spending so such time in gardens of paradise.

[@andytaylor5476]

Awesome seeing that bighorn sheep! Love what you do and your presentation. I lived in Phoenix in the 70's. Couldn't take the heat and the mindless desert encroachment. The native and natural desert is so beautiful!

[@jezuzac1444]

What a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing.

[@cactusscone]

Dude thanks for coming to Arizona it was great to meet you last weekend 🌵😁

[@tylerdunning7363]

Palm Canyon is such a nice place to hike and I've never seen the big horns that low in the canyon I've only seen them in person up high on the ridges

[@nicolassaarni88]

I’m a major palm tree collector and I believe that definitely the trunk can get wider as they get taller. Perfect Example is jubaea chilensis. I’ve watched the trunk girth expansion over decades simultaneously with vertical growth

[@o_o8203]

There's a botanical garden in my city that has some, I love the sound the leaves make when the wind blows through them

[@chrishouseman4781]

I love palm trees

[@in_mendivils_mind]

Heck yea man! Thank you for showcasing this location. One of my favorite places in the world.

[@teresaoconnell4790]

Those palms! You have really outdone yourself. Delightful scenery.

[@patinsley]

Its s honor to be in the same state as this wonderful gentleman!

[@Gjaurelio]

I was just there a couple weeks back. As a local seeing all of the awesome plants and not knowing the names really got me excited when I saw this video pop up on my feed. Also not sure if you saw mammillaria tetrancistra right below the canyon. They blend in so well with the rocks it’s very hard to spot but once you do you start to see a ton of them everywhere

[@ianwise2457]

what an amazing ecology, habitat, geology, landscape... It continues to blow my mind the way life evolves and adapts and modifies itself over eons. beautiful stuff, amazing video!

[@adventureswithcorrine]

Hey! Cool! I drive by the sign for Palm Canyon frequently. Ive never had the time to visit. I will need to make a point of it this winter.

[@Twitchz625]

Growing up in rural Tucson, we'd go out into the desert and play tag with the jumping cholla and wow you knew when you were it

[@laserflexr6321]

I dont know why I like to follow you around through the stickers and the prickers, the stingers and the flingers the biters and the fighters, the ticks, the chiggers etcetera, etcetera, to fill my head with ever more plant names, plant part names, plant chemistry names, and dirty words, to clog up the scant remainder of the few brain cells I have to work with, especially in consideration of how often I have to pause and look something up when you send me off on an, as my beloved, departed father often described it, "chasing grashoppers" mission to understand what in the hell you are talking about, but I do. Thanks for filling my head with even more crap I will never use. I cannot imagine the menagerie you have sprawled out over unsuspecting landowner's properties and they dont even know you done it, and dont even yet realize they are glad you did. 15:54 I thought the same thing the first time I was able to view a palm up close in Florida. Went to see an old girlfriend and confirmed for her why we were incompatible when I told her that's not a tree, it is grass, giant friggen grass. She also didnt take it too well when we visited Busch Gardens and I told her that the pea hen was the plain one and it was the pea cock that put on so much extravagant makeup. Prolly still doesnt believe they are the same specie. Whaddya want me to catch one and express his cloaca? I dont think she would buy that example and explanation anyway but it would have been the most interesting show at the park that day.

[@vincezito3547]

Palm trees remind me of the dinosaur paleo art from childhood. Thats why I love them. Nostalgic

[@racheller8753]

I live in Sarasota Florida it's funny how surprised when you share that palm trees aren't native to Florida!

[@donchristie420]

I’ve got a chainsaw 😂

[@theweirdospfan.28]

That actually isn’t correct there are 12 native palms in florida

[@Sacredview]

I love your candid “makes me want to vomit” comments 😂

[@dylan8285]

The W. Fillifera is planted in both the desert southwest and occasionally in Florida especially the northern part. Problem is it easily will cross with W. Robusta and it has apparently gotten very mixed up in the nursery trade as its hard to tell when young until they get a trunk on it. Then of course their genetics can cross to varying degrees edit: also technically palms are considered a grass which probably will make you hate them more lol

[@brianpoelker]

I didn't know about the hybridization. I live in south Florida and I've seen the genus here. I recently learned that Roystonea regia the Royal Palm has a small native population in South Florida and it made me hate them less, but they're still way overused in landscaping.

[@o_o8203]

They're a monocot, not a grass?

[@dylan8285]

@@o_o8203 no a monocot is a plant that flowers once and then dies. Palms flower every year and put off thousands of seeds

[@dylan8285]

@@brianpoelker yep! It’s the only other palm native to Florida most are found near the Everglades and towards the keys. It’s why there so hurricane resistant there native like the sabal palms

[@samiwinxtitanix5707]

​@@dylan8285some palms flower once and die. For example Tali palm.

[@kCuFfication]

Bless your mama and daddy for making you. Christ, this shit is top top top tier.

[@ScotHarkins]

Out there under open, cloudless skies any heat in there ground radiates directly into space. The valley allows the cold air to collect, and the high sides keep direct sunlight to fewer hours. Overall you get more frost and dew than in higher, more exposed areas. Very much a more thermally and hydrologically moderate areas.

[@dirtymontana]

You are brilliant (& charismatic, in my opinion!). Greetings from Payson Arizona in the Tonto forest, southernmost outpost of the amazing ponderosa pine.

[@CC58]

Becareful of the bighorn sheep in rutting season now. Last week Foresty Forest youtuber was chased down by one and nearly injured. Bear spray could save you.

[@jamess1787]

Bear spray in America? I've now heard it all. 😉

[@katiekane5247]

Horny sheep that size are dangerous things!

[@dergeilteufel]

Those canyons look absolutely magical! I need to visit AZ again. I haven't been there in like 15 years!

[@scottyrush1523]

Great video! Always a treat to learn more about my home state

[@Kingzoid]

I live in a much wetter climate (the Pacific Northwest), but your comments about palms in this video very much resonate with similar opinions we both harbor about E. regnans and S. sempervirens. The third 'supertall' glanced upon in one of your previous videos is P. menziesii. It holds vast potential as a carbon sink (historically on par with redwoods) and is gorgeous in Northwest native habitats, but it's real sad how horrendous it has been treated by civilization on suburbia and tree farms. I hope you can do another deep dive in the PNW rainforests someday.

[@unionse7en]

I've been there many moons ago, camped at the mouth of the canyon.. Bobcat was looking down at us from the cliff top making amazing and loud warning noises.

[@watchitexplode]

I've been waiting for this video! Specifically I mean the areas around Yuma I go to look at plants. Thanks

[@laurendeady7352]

I'm from the midwest but lived in Yuma for 5 months in the winter of 2020 doing a travel contract hospital job. I miss these plants now :( Yuma was not for me but the nature surrounding it was so novel to a deciduous forest person. I think I went to this exact site seeking out these palms! Wow I hope to visit again someday.

[@chargermopar]

Palmate leaved palms do expand the base of the trunk over time- royal palms, coconuts, areca. alexander etc. Even Washingtonias here in Florida do as well.

[@charlesurrea1451]

In my observations of natives cultivating various Palms, I had witnessed the burning of the skirts as opposed to a trimming using a tool. Apparently the burning promotes growth and is of course a lot easier.

[@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt]

I don't see how burning would promote growth. In many tree-like monocots the skirts protect and insulate the tree from frost damage and also provide habitat for bats and owls, both of which reduce pest numbers

[@stevenvarner9806]

We have lots of these in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California. You should come visit sometime. Lots of great stuff to see like Desert Gardens and the four oases in the Collins Valley area; Font's Point, the Borrego Badlands, and the three oases near Arroyo Salado; the southern Bow Willow and Mountain Palm Springs area; the Elephant Tree Discovery Area, the geology and large anticline in Fish Creek; the pinyon habitat in the Pinyon Mountains; Blair Valley, Box Canyon, and the hidden valley with its native pictographs at the terminus of the Pictograph Trail; Palm Spring, Vallecitos Creek area, the mud caves, and Carrizo Badlands in the southeast. Someone could have a whole program just on this one massive state park.

[@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt]

Done plenty of Botany there, it's a great place

[@thatcrazyhindu]

I always love the content, but then he throws in a shot of him talking while pissing and obsessing over sheep balls. Perfection

[@anotherhuman8211]

Its like foothills palo verde where within the sw US its mostly native to AZ, but there is an isolated, smaller population in CA so its technically native there too

[@carson911]

"I bet he's got a decent pack, and I'm just admirin that, it's not like daht" LOL

[@The42Horsepower]

I'll be going on a volunteer trip to the Sonoran desert soon to work with the NPS, and this video is getting me very excited to explore all the natural life out there :)

[@bybeach4865]

These palms are amazing, that they persist in very small only areas where they could survive and hold their own. Other of these plants come off as more drought tolerant and adapted, inside the slot canyons at least.

[@lelandsmith2320]

The oasis I saw in CA were always at springs.

[@kevinharrigan2727]

Those look so much like the native Florida palms! I wouldn’t be surprised if they were related, the look extremely alike.

[@thartwig]

Gahd: "Fuck this golfer in particular"

[@TinShackVideos]

I love the "blue" palms in Baja .

[@trogdo]

Do palms like Washingtonia exhibit anomalous secondary growth? I've read it described as diffuse secondary growth with random parenchyma division and primary cellular gigantism which seems pretty old school

[@marcmillis3867]

I have 16500 Washingtonia palm trees... They're the best.

[@tadsklallamn8v]

reminds me of the doug firs growing at mesa verde only in the shadows and where they have access to a water table

[@rejeandurette3471]

There's many in the New River, which is usually just a wash. There's also many north of lake pleasant, in the foothills of the Bradshaw mountains

[@stevemiller2296]

bro your accent is gold . your a legend

[@donchristie420]

I don’t hear an accent(I’m from Chicago)😂

[@richpalmen]

Awsome to see the filifera in habitat. I wish they were more natively widespread

[@jacksonnc8877]

Thats absolutely amazing you catching a Big Horn Ram in the rutt. Just don't get to close 😂 he might think you look pretty 😍

[@CMZneu]

I always found it bizarre that palms dont grow any thicker once they start shooting up, also if i'm not mistaken, they need to grow taller to get new leaves which is a plain weird because most of the time as long as you are getting enough light, there is no benefit of growing past a certain height(above herbivore reach), the taller you get the more energy it takes to get stuff up there, it's subjected to more cold and wind and when you aren't getting any thicker eventually a strong wind is going to snap you in half.

[@Bob-bs9ok]

The desert ironwood has to be my favourite plant 'round home

[@sativaburns6705]

The wasps kept poking holes in the salvia I planted for the humming bird (singular, the same one every day) and hummingbird moths. I had to start spraying the wasps off with water.

[@roytate3889]

As a boy scout in the 60's, we hiked in 9 miles on a then gravel road to Palm Canyon, which I assume is is the place you went? What a amazing transition zone to the higher Sonoran Desert. Saw a beautiful gila monster early morning there, striking salmon colors. Climbed to the easiest grove that looks like the same area of palms. You just feel the link to a less desert past with relics like washingtonia filiferia or ficus petiolaris. Saw evidence of fires to the trees then as well. The whole area was a buzz with insects, birds, and animals. Place is special to me. Yes Joey, we did not destroy the environment, so don't go there. My former Marine DI instructer - scoutmaster required we pack out trash even if we had to hike 50 miles or more.

[@kenhunt5153]

Tucson has an oasis in Aqua Caliente Regional Park. More authentic oases can be found in Anza Borrego State Park outside San Diego and in the Mojave Preserve. That would be an idea for an upload.

[@The_Fat_Bald_Trucker]

Glad to see me and the boys didn't have to haul your ass to Tecopa,CA. The Collab will be great! You can thank me later.👍

[@carriebrown4727]

Amen! Grow stuff suited to the environment.

[@SuperCartridgeKid]

Thanks Joey. Gonna skip work and enjoy nature here in Texas.

[@FinnRenard]

New subcriber here. Gotta say, this is my favorite botanical channel. The knowledge you dish out is amazing, and only surpassed by your unique delivery. It's like George Carlin and Andrew Dice Clay had a beautiful f*cking bastard of a gorgeous baby boy. Un-f*cking-believable :) EDIT: Edited because KZbin now do a pop-up and will flag comments as inappropriate. So no more fracking fricks.

[@JacquesTreehorn]

Amazing. Thanks for sharing. The cliffs and palms reminds me of Oman, but it is Arizona. Refugia. I learned something.

[@uranusneptun5239]

Tbh palms are my favourite palms. I also love Conifers and ferns and such... Idk all those families that got that ancient earth history vibe to them. Palms also amaze me with how much wind and beating the can handle. Often growing in the harshest conditions with some also being extremely cold tolerant!

[@joshuaferguson5756]

Back when i was a boy scout, we camped near there. I can remember seeing them unburnt. But we have tons of fires just out in the middle of nowhere. Almost never started by people.

[@joshuaferguson5756]

There are way crazier spots to visit in Arizona. But our box canyons are the best! Some of them even have seasonal rivers that run through them!

[@bowmag803]

We got one like that in Florida the swamp cabbage

[@rh5563]

Love the commentary on this one. Easily understood by the Lamen.

[@emiliovargas7433]

4:36 That was a power move 😂😂😂

[@danieldow3094]

Fun how much crossover there is between this spot and the SW portions of Anza borrego, Agua caliente area. Idk why simmondsia isn't the go to hedge plant for commercial landscaping. Decent growth rate, perfect size to replace all the bastard rhaps, and man do they have some ornamental nuts!

[@nanao.292]

Some of the Aussie Livistonas (forgot whether victoriae or alfredii) also grow in similar very deep and narrow canyons and ravines as a remnant of mory happier (rainier) climates, empirically and generally such places really are much cooler and wetter then the surrounding landscapes, and sheltered from dry winds which may also help explain why there and not on the surrounding mountaintops.

[@jtknight4647]

Hope you got a helmet in spots like that Tony, we can’t lose you!

[@scottmcandrew9642]

So much to consider, like the size of a rack vs the size of a pack. The erotic nature of rhyolite . And so much more. I always have to rewind and take notes and then do my google searches so that the lesson sinks in a little bit. Last winter I went south of the boarder into central Baja California and visited the Boojum trees. That was fun , I think I might do it again this winter.

[@bigtsperspective5831]

So happy to hear about my home state

[@danthomas6587]

Which species of cholla is the jumping cholla? And who in their right mind coined the term teddy bear cholla?

[@owenwilliams3285]

With the NYny accent and the plant info i had to sub. Whatayatalkinabout

[@spookyduzit]

Very intersting location.would be a nice hiking trail

[@lelandsmith2320]

The last time I was there there was a trail that went straight to the palms.

[@spookyduzit]

@@lelandsmith2320 is it ok to drop the name of the park or trials for others to find?

[@siggyincr7447]

Kind of surprised hummingbirds can survive in the desert with their need to constantly feed.

[@202cardline]

There's a ton of them in Arizona. More than anywhere else I've been in the country. Crazy!

[@notflanders4967]

that slot canyon area is really cool

[@roytate3889]

Speaking as a native, desert rat, not all palms look out of place as half dead trash but often are. Why anyone would plant a cheap big box queen palm that always dies is beyond distasteful. Anyhow, done right they do look beautiful at times. If you have ever tried the many different varieties of dates fresh you might reconsider planting one if you lived in the Valley Of The Sun. Beats any candy ever made and you get tons of fiber and nutrients. P.S. - I did not plant my Jacaranda but it is beautiful.

[@emmahardesty4330]

Always highly appreciate and enjoy your commentary and visuals. Here's important info for growing the endangered Irownwood: Every horticulture book will say they're hard to germinate. Not so! Completely simple. Collect a dried bean (tasty roasted, btw; jojoba nuts too) in the fall, tuck it in soil where it will get good runoff--and you'll have a rapidly growing tree, several feet tall, in four years. Really.

[@scottleggejr]

I have 3 in my yard I don't want and they sprout up all over 😂

[@ym2173]

Kofa is so cool.

[@AlyxGlide]

he's kind of happy in this v fun

[@EnglishDave6767]

Loved this! What a cool native palm refuge. I'd love to know if/what mushrooms would be found alongside these palms in such settings? Cheers, from atmospheric river soggy af, Oregon!

[@tv-pp]

How do you have the mental strength still in this current year to speak on camera without interupting the pee stream?

[@redpatcher]

Come up to northern AZ please