Ceroxylon echinulatum

[Darold Petty]

Eighteen months ago I purchased two 5-gallon plants of Ceroxylon echinulatum. The plants are growing well and eventually I will plant the stronger one in my garden. The problem is that one plant has no heel and the second one has a very prominent one. My previous experience with four other Ceroxylon species is that they all have heels.

I know that some genera have all species with a heel (Rhopalostylis and Sabal) and that some genera have heeled species and non-heeled species (Dypsis).

My plants were originally propagated by a now-defunct nursery, Palm Mountain, in Southern California.

Does anyone else have this species from this source? If so, do your plants have a heel or not?

Does anyone have experience with heel/no heel within a species ?

The foliage of these two palms is absolutely identical, they are the same size, and are growing at the same rate.

thanks for your observations !

[MattyB]

Hi Darold,

Both my neighbor and I have C. echinulatum from the old Palm Mountain stock. Both of ours have heels. I suspect that your non-healed one will form a heel as it gets older. I've seen some of the healed Dypsis, that when young, do not have the heel and as more leaf bases build up it begins to form.

I don't know how anyone can tell the difference in any of the Ceroxylon, they all look the same. I will say that these Ceroxylon echinulatum that my neighbor and I are growing seem to be able to handle more sun than I expected. My neighbor planted his 5 gallon plant out in full sun from noon on until sunset. I couldn't belive it but it was not only doing fine but was still a deep green last time I saw it. This prompted me to remove half of the shade cloth over mine and even in hot weather it's perfectly happy with half a day in sun. It has not grown any height in the 2 years it's been in the ground. It just continues to put out leaves and creep sideways away from the heel.

[Mandrew968]

Ceroxylon is one genus I envy, that you california growers can grow--I guess my Pseudophoenix ledinianna will have to do...

[BS Man about Palms]

Darold, I worked at palm Mountain part time before it went away...

At one time they had like 7 species, in liners, its very hard to tell the differences...!

I suspect Matty is right, oryou have another species..

And I recognize the crappy soil used at the end... NO organics to speak of... be sure to fertilise!

[Darold Petty]

My palm mentor, Garrin, said that he has seen heel variability in small Ceroxylons. (Of course, as small seedlings none show a heel.) I most likely will grow these two for an additional year in the pot.

I will attempt to introduce more organics into the pot medium with the help of earthworms. Right now it's somewhat sludge-like, although it still drains at an OK rate.

Thanks to you all for the input !

[Firepalm]

Thought I'd throw my two cents in on this since I have a 5G C. Echinulatum from the old Palm Mountain stock. Mine has a prominent heel and as Matty mentioned basically throws new leaves and inches slowly away from the heel. I also have C. Alpinum, C. Ventricosum and C. Amazonicum and they all have heels. My guess is that the one you have without a heel will start to develop one at some point. My Ventricosum is the smallest of the four, it was just potted up to a 5G and is already building a little heel. Mine all get sun until about 1:30pm and look good, minimal burning at the tips and slow but steady growth. Curious to see how they hold up when we start getting Santa Ana conditions this fall.

[MattyB]

Mine showed no signs of stress during the Santa Ana seasons the last two years.

[pogobob]

We also bought a couple dozen ceroxylons in 5gal from Palm Mt that wer tagged as 6 different species. Most are heeled and all appear identical. I think they may all be the same specie. They are growing in full sun with good results both here at my San Clemente house and at Bradens nursery in Oceanvistaside.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Hey Darold what is the update on these Ceroxylons -how are they doing now ?

[Darold Petty]

The non-heeled plant gained a slight advantage in size so I planted that one in the ground on April 8th. I sold the heeled one to my friend, John Rees in Camarillo. These two pictures are a rather strange perspective, looking straight down at the palm. My garden is so small and congested that I can't get a more normal photo from a horizontal perspective.

This species seems very happy, growing steadily throughout the seasons and always dark green.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Ah Darold

I was hoping you would chime in !

Looks great - roughly how many leaves do these make a year 2 -3 ??

I have 2 Ceroxylon alpinum seedlings another parvifrons , 1 c amazonicum and 1 ventricosum to plant out this spring all still have juvenile foliage .

[realarch]

Looking at your photos Darold made me take a second look at my C. alpinium and how similar yet different the leaves are at this stage.

I've never grown Ceroxylon before and thought I'd give it a try. Zone pushing in reverse I guess. The color on mine is a vibrant green with longer

thinner pinnae. I wonder if the little windows in the apical bifid leaf is a common characteristic at this stage of all Ceroxylon?

Mine has no heel and has been in the ground about a year from a 1 gal. So far so good and seems to be growing a bit faster as of late.

The grower obtained seed from Ecuador. Here's a pic pretty much at the same angle for comparison with part of a leg and a foot thrown in.

[JasonD]

Tim, I'd think you could do well in Hilo thanks to your cool nights with some of the coffee-belt Ceroxylons like alpinum, echinulatum, amazonicum. Garrin had a C. parvum growing for a long time, I think. They do fine here in SF, too, but at least alpinum is more frost-tender.

Some of the species look different once they go pinnate: C. parvum and C. vogelianum show plumosity pretty young, and others show certain colors of tomentum and lepidia, as well as patterns of leaflet division. Ceroxylon alpinum tends to hold its apical leaflets together longer than does C. quindiuense, for example.