Family: Palmae Genus: Chamaerops Common name: Palm heart, Margalló, palma. Uses and properties: Edible or food uses. Furniture, construction and tools. Medicinal. Flowering time: April to June. Vital foms: Phanerophyte (Faneròfit). Habitats: Mountain xerophytes and carritxeres. Garden plants. Ullastrar and other sclerophyllous chaparral, juniper groves. Pine and chaparral woods with rosemary and thyme. Open, dry places, on the roquissars and mountain slopes, always near the coast. Features: The fan palm has palmate leaves and a columnar trunk that can be several metres long, usually shorter. Its distribution on the islands is somewhat irregular, being abundant in some places and absent in others. It is a fire-resistant plant that regenerates after a fire, which is why it is abundant in some areas that have been severely damaged by fires, such as the peninsula of Artà. Notes: Each leaflet of the leaf or palm is called a brizna, as is the process of finding or separating the united leaflets in the dried and bleached palm. The brizna consists of two, three, four, five or six strands, depending on the object to be made. Ullol, the nascent leaf, still folded or closed, or an open hair, covered with a light whitish hair or tomentose. Ullol is made in June, as is esparto grass (gata). Origin: Western Mediterranean Information taken from the website http://herbarivirtual.uib.es/ and from Pellicer, Joan (2000). Costumari Botànic. Edicions del Bullent. |