Species
+

Brahea armata S.Watson

Mexican blue palm, blue fan palm, blue hesper palm, gray-goddess

Climate known 52 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Brahea armata, commonly known as the blue fan palm, blue hesper palm or Mexican blue palm, is a flowering plant in the family Arecaceae, native to Baja California, Mexico. Outside its natural range, it is often planted as an ornamental, valued for its striking grey-blue fronds.

Text from Wikipedia, “Brahea armata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Brahea

Brahea is a genus of palms in the family Arecaceae. They are commonly referred to as hesper palms and are endemic to Mexico and Central America. All Hesper Palms have large, fan-shaped leaves. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Brahea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
S.Watson
Native to
Mexico Northwest
Wild records
231 in range· 144 open

At a glance

Warmest month
34°C
Jul, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
157mm/yr
1 wet month · peak Aug 25 mm (CHELSA)
Light
24–53DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a winter growing season, December to March and August to September in the northern hemisphere (December to March and August to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 157 mm a year, wettest August at 25 mm, driest May at 1 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 53 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 3.2 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Brahea armata var. microcarpa Becc.; Brahea clara (L.H.Bailey) Espejo & López-Ferr.; Brahea elegans (Franceschi ex Becc.) H.E.Moore; Brahea glauca Hook.f.; Brahea lucida Hook.f. and 13 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, December to March and August to September in the northern hemisphere (December to March and August to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (120 mm of 157 mm) falls in December to March and August to September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 18.0 °C against a yearly mean of 19.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: February to March and June to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 157 mm a year, wettest August at 25 mm, driest May at 1 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

157 mm a year at the habitat, 120 mm of it December to March and August to September. Wettest month August at 25 mm, driest May at 1 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 115 mm to 497 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 53 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 53 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 3.2 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 3.2 °C, the absolute minimum -1.2 °C, 11 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 3.7 °C to 13.4 °C), warmest day 33.6 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 3.2 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant) is 12 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 43 to 50% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 18 °C in Dec to 34 °C in Jul; mean night from 8 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 157 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 89 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -1.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 41.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost41.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-1.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 24–53RH 43–50 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 89 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C19 / 16–2220 / 17–2322 / 19–2625 / 21–3029 / 23–3432 / 27–3734 / 29–3833 / 30–3732 / 29–3427 / 24–3122 / 20–2618 / 16–22
Night °C8 / 4–139 / 5–1410 / 6–1511 / 9–1714 / 12–2018 / 15–2421 / 19–2722 / 19–2820 / 17–2715 / 13–2311 / 8–188 / 4–14
Rain mm19 / 15–3920 / 9–4015 / 5–353 / 1–101 / 0–41 / 1–1911 / 4–14925 / 7–11517 / 9–779 / 7–2712 / 7–2124 / 18–36
DLI26 / 24–2732 / 30–3341 / 39–4248 / 48–4953 / 52–5353 / 51–5550 / 44–5146 / 41–4741 / 38–4235 / 33–3628 / 26–2924 / 22–25
RH %49 / 45–5448 / 44–5446 / 41–5443 / 38–5243 / 36–5443 / 36–5547 / 40–5948 / 42–6049 / 43–6048 / 42–5547 / 42–5450 / 44–54

Each figure is the median across the 89 grid cells holding the 218 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1190:1285 (30.475, -115.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 89 distinct grid cells holding the 218 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1190:1285 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 30.50_-115.625, lapse-corrected -263 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 388 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Northwest
Kew's description“tree” · “desert or dry shrubland”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker29.737, -114.722 · in the densest population, 151 records (65% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 231 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 144 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 26 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 13 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 231 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Brahea armataBrahea armataBrahea armataBrahea armataBrahea armataBrahea armataBrahea armataBrahea armata

Photographs: (c) Alan Rockefeller, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Rosario Douglas, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Kristof Zyskowski, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Brahea armata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Patterns of frugivory, seed dispersal and predation of blue fan palms (Brahea armata) in oases of northern Baja California
Elisabet V. Wehncke, X.L. Medellín, Exequiel Ezcurra (2009) · Journal of Arid Environments
Rango de hospedantes de Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) y diámetro de la palmera hospedante (Coleoptera, Curculionidae)
M. M. Martín, Tomás Cabello García, Pablo Barranco Vega, José Andrés de la Peña (2000) · Boletín de sanidad vegetal. Plagas
Blue fan palm distribution and seed removal patterns in three desert oases of northern Baja California, Mexico
Elisabet V. Wehncke, Xavier López‐Medellín, Exequiel Ezcurra (2009) · Plant Ecology
First Occurrence of Calonectria Leaf Spot on Mexican Blue Palm in Italy
G. Polizzi, F. M. Grasso, A. Vitale, Dalia Aiello (2007) · Plant Disease
Chemical and biological review on various classes of secondary metabolites and biological activities of Arecaceae (2021-2006)
Marwa Hassan Hussaen Mohammed, Mostafa A. Fouad (2022) · Journal of advanced Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Phenolics from extracts of Brahea armata with inhibitory effect against 5alpha-reductase type-II.
Sahar Hussein, Amani Hashim, Heba Barakat, Joachim Jose (2006) · PubMed
Revealing an Endemic Herbivore-Palm Interaction in Remote Desert Oases of Baja California
Elisabet V. Wehncke, Xavier López‐Medellín, Michael A. Wall, Exequiel Ezcurra (2013) · American Journal of Plant Sciences
Seedling Growth, Leaf Injury and Ion Uptake Response of Cold-Resistant Palm Species to Salinity
Safiullah Khurram, S. Miyamoto (2005) · Journal of Environmental Horticulture
Geographic isolation and long-distance gene flow influence the genetic structure of the blue fan palm Brahea armata (Arecaceae)
Jessica Pérez‐Alquicira, Elisabet V. Wehncke, Gustavo A. García-Loza, Bryan C. Carstens (2023) · Journal of Plant Research
Diatrypella heveae Senwanna, Phookamsak & K.D. Hyde (Diatrypaceae, Xylariales): a new record for the Neotropics
Maiara Araújo Lima dos Santos, Nadja Santos Vitória, Rafael José Vilela de Oliveira, José Luiz Bezerra (2020) · Check List
Phenolics from Extracts of Brahea armata with Inhibitory Effect Against 5α‐Reductase Type‐II.
Sahar Hussein, Amani Hashim, Heba Barakat, Joachim Jose (2007) · ChemInform
Freeze Survival Survey of 21 Palm Species in New Orleans and Vicinity
Severn C. Doughty, Daniel J. Gill, David C. Blouin (1992) · HortTechnology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 32 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.