The dwarf fan palm is a small Mediterranean palm, the only palm species native to the Iberian Peninsula, forming clumps branched from the base with greyish-green fan-shaped leaves.
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Division | Magnoliophyta |
| Class | Liliopsida |
| Order | Arecales |
| Family | Arecaceae |
| Genus | Chamaerops |
| Species | Chamaerops humilis |
It is a shrubby palm that rarely exceeds 4 metres in height, branching from the base into several trunks. Its leaves, 50 to 80 cm in diameter, are palmate and grey or bluish-green in colour, with spiny petioles.
It is a dioecious species (male and female plants occur separately). It flowers in spring, and its small, fleshy fruits change from green to reddish tones and finally blackish as they ripen.
It is found in the dry regions of the Mediterranean coast, being especially abundant in the south and east of the Iberian Peninsula and in northern Morocco. It is the only palm species native to the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.
Its leaves have traditionally been used to make mats, brooms and ropes. The genus name, Chamaerops, comes from the Greek for ‘low’ and ‘shrub’, while ‘humilis’ means ‘humble’ in Latin, in reference to its small size.
