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DESERTPLMOASIS

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By James W Cornett

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DESERTPALMOASIS

Text and Photographs byJames W. Cornett

Curator of Natural SciencePalm Springs Desert Museum

REDLA[1DS INSTITUTE

©1989 James W . Cornett & the Palm Springs Desert Museum

Palm Springs Desert Museum101 Museum Drive

Palm Springs, California 92263

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproducedin any form without permission .

This publication and the research it represents were made possible by a grantfrom the Richard King Mellon Foundation of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania .

The author would like to thank the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indiansand The Nature Conservancy for their assistance on this project .

Produced for the Palm Springs Desert Museum byCompanion Press

Santa Barbara, CaliforniaJane Freeburg, Publisher/Editor

Designed by Lucy BrownCopyedited by Cheryl JeffreyPrinted and bound in Korea

through Bolton Associates, San Rafael, California

ISBN 0-944197-10-8

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONEThe Desert Fan Palm Discovered

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CHAPTER TWOKnowing the Palm

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CHAPTER THREEIndians and the Fan Palm

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CHAPTER FOURThe Giant Palm Boring Beetle

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CHAPTER FIVEPalms of Fire

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An old and dyingdesert fan palm atCantu Palms, BajaCalifornia Norte .

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A granite spiny lizard, Sceloporus orcutti, on a desert fan palm trunk .

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