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Brahea edulis, the Guadalupe palm or italic=no, is a Arecaceae endemic to Guadalupe Island, Mexico, although a few stands have been planted elsewhere.Garcillan, Pedro P., Ernesto Vega, and Carlos Martorell. " The Brahea edulis palm forest in Guadalupe Island: A North American fog oasis?." Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 85 (2012): 137–145. It is a fan palm which grows tall. It grows on the island between above mean sea level (ASL),León de la Luz et al. (2003) with this altitudinal zonation producing one of the few fog oases present in North America.
The entire native population consists of old trees with little successful recruitment for 150 years or so. Until 2007, Guadalupe Island supported a large domestic goat population (estimated at 100,000 in 1870, and 5,000 in 2000). The presence of these goats prevented regrowth of the native trees, including B. edulis, and as a consequence, the ecosystem was drastically altered: the once verdant island turned into an almost barren rock, with weeds replacing the former forests. Below ASL, the palm is essentially the only remaining tree, occurring in a major subpopulation and scattered groups in sheltered locations. Above that, there used to be a band of mixed woodland where the palm was accompanied by Island Oak and Guadalupe Pine. This habitat has now all but disappeared due to the other trees becoming pushed back into higher regions.
Although endangered in the wild, B. edulis is cultivated, especially in California. In 2001, it was started to fence in patches of habitat on Guadalupe, and the long-envisioned removal of goats was effectively complete by 2005. Some hundreds of Guadalupe Palms remain on their island home today.Johnson (1988), León de la Luz et al. (2003) As regrowth presumably was hindered by the goats eating the saplings rather than the trees having all become old and sterile, it is likely that the palm will eventually recover. That it was best able of all Guadalupe tree species to withstand the hordes of goats is evidenced by its present distribution; the other trees – if they survive at all – are limited to higher and less accessible areas. Nonetheless, the species is precariously rare and the IUCN considers it Endangered (EN C1).
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