California Fan Palms

The California Fan Palm is native to the deserts of southern California and Baja California. It keeps its dead fronds for a long time and they form a "skirt" around the palm that provides a habitat for birds and other creatures. The "skirt" of dead fronds also leaves them vulnerable to the action of idiots like the man who set many of the palms at this oasis, Fortynine Palms in Joshua Tree National Park, on fire. The skirt of the young palms reaches to the ground.