Like so many things in Southern California, the palm tree was an import from somewhere else that over time became inextricably symbolic of its adopted home.

But the trees, so identified with the sun-splashed excitement of Los Angeles, are facing a decidedly darker fate. They are dying of fatal fungus and under threat of invasive insects in parks and along streets. And for the most part, the city has chosen to replace them not with new palms but with native trees that are more drought-tolerant and shadier, said Leon Borodinsky, a tree surgeon for the department of Recreation and Parks.

City officials say they don’t know how many palm trees have been lost. In 1990, a city tally put the number of palms on L.A.’s streets at 75,000. That number has declined, officials said, but they are not sure by how much.

"Over the next 50 years, you will see a great loss in palms. It's already begun," added Jared Farmer, the author of Trees in Paradise.

The decline in palm trees is part of a larger trend in L.A.’s treescape. In the next five years, the city will lose enough trees to disease and pests that it will take 30 to 50 years to replenish them, Borodinsky said.

The loss of the palms is particularly noticeable because of their prominence in the city’s streetscape.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Los Angeles decorated itself with a diversity of palms to enchant newcomers, Farmer said. The city imported its palm trees from all over the world, since only one species, the California fan palm, is native to the state.

Palm trees dominate frontyards on Figueroa Street in this photo from 1890. (California Historical Society)

Palm trees flourished in Los Angeles alongside the automobile and expansive freeways. "They came to represent the modern auto-based, decentralized metropolis that is L.A.," Farmer said.

Hollywood sealed the deal as movies turned the palm tree into an internationally recognized symbol of Los Angeles.

"Hollywood creates this connection between palm trees, celebrities, glamour, sex and extravagant riches," Farmer said.