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LOCATION: 239 Connecticut St./18th St. on Potrero Hill; also 436 Cole St./Fell St. in the Haight-Ashbury

Phoenix canariensis

CANARY ISLAND DATE PALM

Years ago, I didn’t associate palm trees and San Francisco. Los Angeles, sure, but San Francisco? Since the early 1990s, however, Canary Island date palms have been used extensively in high-profile street-landscaping projects in San Francisco. In 1993, the tree was used to line the entire length of upper Market Street, to spectacular effect. In the late 1990s, Canary Island date palms were planted at the city’s waterfront along the Embarcadero, from AT&T Park all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf, replacing the elevated freeway that formerly cut off the city from its bay views. Plenty of San Franciscans complained at the time, concerned that the palms were “Los Angelizing” the city. Fortunately, they lost that aesthetic battle, and the stately Canary Island date palm is now very much part of the San Francisco fabric.

The Canary Island date palm supposedly was introduced to California by Spanish mission priests during the 18th century. The tree has a massive trunk, 4–5 feet in diameter, which in its natural state is roughened by the woody remnants of old palm fronds. In cultivation, the trunk is usually trimmed to a smooth cylinder. The gracefully arching leaves are 15–20 feet long, with 2-inch-wide leaflets measuring 12–16 inches long. Cream-colored flowers appear in clusters, with male and female flowers on different trees; the female trees produce (inedible) clusters of datelike ¾ -inch seeds in the fall. The tree is native to Spain’s Canary Islands, in the Atlantic off the southwest coast of Morocco.