Trithrinax campestris

[ghar41]

A recent thread brought up the genus Trithrinax.  T. campestris is one of my all time favorite palms... after all how many palms can be used to ward off a mugger?  Is there a more strange palm found anywhere in the world?  

No other "blue" palm looks quite as unique although Ive never been able to capture their beauty with my digital camera.  

Ive always felt this palm should be more widely planted...who is growing it, and where?  Post your photos!

[iwan]

Glenn,

Check out the Dick Douglas thread and the IPS BOD (I think I did a separate thread on that one).  I probably have a few other pictures in the album that I did not post here.  I have a bunch of seeds, but no seedlings or plants yet.  I only have seedlings of acanthacoma and schizophylla.

I have plenty of room for a few Thrithrinax.

[Nigel]

A very under used palm........... incredibly beautiful.

Here is a pic from Brazil I took last month of brasiliensis, actually it was an acanthacoma before the lumper got there. Alberto in pic for scale ....

[ghar41]

(iwan @ Feb. 08 2008,01:24)

QUOTE

Glenn,

I have a bunch of seeds, but no seedlings or plants yet.  I only have seedlings of acanthacoma and schizophylla.

I have plenty of room for a few Thrithrinax.

The campestris seed can take awhile, ive had the best luck when they get plenty of bottom heat, hot even.  Ive lost a bunch when theyre too wet, they dampen off easily.  Now Im having better luck, using a looser mix, being careful not to overpot the seedlings.

If your interested,  have some seedlings you can have, next time your up this way.

[Exotic Life]

Hi,

Here is a picture from a Tritrinax campestris from last winter, not this winter because we don't have got snow this winter so far. This palm is from a friend of mine that living in the east.. a lot colder then where i live!

[Kris]

Dear Robbin  & Negil  

lovely stills of a lovely fan palm_thanks !

love,

Kris  

[Alicehunter2000]

After looking at that Netherlands shot, I might have to get one.

[Charles Wychgel]

Here is one flowering.... in Portugal

[ghar41]

Charles, you did it!  Great pic...including flowers!

And Exotic Life-  another great pic...any votes for most cold hardy palm known?

This amazing palm has leaves so stiff they remain perfectly rigid at horizontal or even downfacing 45 deg. angles.  An amazing garden could be planted in parts of USDA zone 6 (ok maybe zone 7) with Rhapidophylum and this palm that would be stunning.  The color contrast between these two palms would be nice, esp. if surrounded by annuals, ect.

[Brad-Tampa]

Glenn,

I have this Tritrinax "growing" in Tampa. The garden log calls it a T. campestris but it sure looks different. The log also states that it came from Dick Douglas and it is apparently quite old. The trunk does not have the typical spines but the leaf tips are very sharp.

PalmguyWC,

Not to date you, but do you have an idea how old it is and could it instead be T. biflabellata, or is this how T. campestris looks when grown in Florida?

The final picture is of a T. acanthocoma?

Note the ranch hand for scale.

Thanks,Brad

[Brad-Tampa]

Now I see that T. ancanthocoma is a synonym for T. brasiliensis according to the Kew check list.

[PalmGuyWC]

Hi Brad,

I remember giving that palm to your Dad, and it must be at least 30 years old. It's the same age as the ones I have growing in Walnut Creek, and mine are very robust and much larger.  They just don't like Florida, to hot for them I think. In fact I think yours might be the only one growing in Florida, certainly the only one I've ever seen. It is a Trithrinax campestris.

Dick

[Tejastropicals]

I have a small one. The blue variety or phase are really pretty. All the ones I have seen have been multi trunked. The two pics posted are the first I have seen as single trunks. The one with snow and the one in bloom are just stunning.

[NCpalmqueen]

Thanks for posting photos.  My little babe has a ways to go, but so far it has withstood this wacky winter just fine.  My lowest temp so far has been around 16F.

[PalmGuyWC]

Cindy,

Your T. campestris looks more typical of the ones grown in Calif. They tend to be short and stubby with very rigid fronds.  I suspect you get enough winter chill to meet the requirements of this very unusual palm. I know it seems odd, but some palms seem to require a certain amout of chilling to thrive. This includes the Trithrinax, Butias, Jubaeas, Trachycarpus and the Parajubaeas. Unfortunately the Parajubaeas aren't all that cold hardy, but the others are.

There are a few Butias growing in S. Florida, but the few I've seen never look as robust as the ones growing in N. Fla. and S. Ga. that get a winter chill.

Dick

[Kathryn]

I was searching for some information on the old forum the other day and ran across a post by Gaston that had some nice Trithrinax pictures. Check out the links at the beginning of the post.

http://palmtalk.org/cgi-bin....thrinax

[NCpalmqueen]

Dick

You are really good!  I got my campy while in CA last Spring...so it has California blood.     It grew really well through one of the hottest and dryest summers on record here.  Looks to be a great palm for my locale...it just laughed at winter.  The possibility now for the real frigid stuff is just about over here.   Another zone8 winter so no zone7 test on the campy.

[Nigel]

The strange but wonderful thing about my Trithrinax campestris is that it continues to grow in winter. No other palm does this.

[PalmGuyWC]

Thanks Kathryn,

If I get bored with the current threads, there is always something interesting to be found in some of the old threads. There is a wealth of information and beautiful pictures to be found in old threads. If one digs around they would be surprised at what can be found there.

For some of the new members, perhaps they didn't read the "directions" and maybe they don't know by clicking on PALMTALK  at the upper left hand of the screen, that many other subjects are covered, such as weather, and even just idle chatter of current interests. Discussing Palm Trees Worldwide has rekindeled my interest in palms. There is always something new to be learned

Dick

[PalmGuyWC]

Nigel,

I've never noticed that my T. campestris are growing in the winter. I tend to ignore my palms in the winter, as I assume they are all hibernating as I do. I'll have to figgure out a way to mark them next winter, but they are so viscious with their sharp needle fronds. I'll have to figgure out a way to slip a collar over the emerging frond without being stabbed.

I've never understood how they can be dug from the wild in S. America and shipped to Europe. It's probably the most armed palm I know of. I call mine the "Beauty and the Beast," nice to look at, but don't get close. One stab from the fronds and you won't forget it. I've often thought there is a toxin on the tips of the fronds, as it stings worse than a bee sting.

Dick

[Kathryn]

Here is a Trithrinax campestris that I germinated in 2004. Its nice blue color doesn’t show well in the photo.

Here is my Trithrinax acanthocoma that has been in the ground for about 2.5 years now.

[ghar41]

Kathryn,

Great pics of them in habitat, thanks.  The grove in Cerro Poco looks like a suitable place for an episode of Survivor.

At one of my earliest palm society meetings (90's) T campestris was one of the first palms recommended to me by Darold Petty after I mentioned my growing locale.  I went home, looked at some low resolution pics and decided it didnt look any different than Brahea armata.  It was the T camp. at Dick's place, that I saw years later, that convinced me that this was a top tier palm.  I started with very small plants.  Running low on patience, I purchased a couple of slightly larger 5 gallon plants late last year.

I like the look of the singles.  Anyone have any advice on removing trunks or even dividing them?

[PalmGuyWC]

Glenn,

I have grown T. campestris up from strap leafed sizes several times. After a few strap fronds, they grow minature fan fronds. After only a few small fan fronds they dichotomise. After further development the two crowns may dichotomise again..........and then again. I have one mature plant that has over 13 trunks, and another that only developed 3 trunks.

I expect it would be very hard to divide them as rather than suckering, the two "stems" are very closely welded together. If you wanted a single trunk you would probabaly have to sacrifice one of the stems. l expect this would have to be done at an early stage of growth, and just cut away one stem and leave the roots undisturbed on the single stem. This is not to say that the single stem might not dichotomise again.

Apparently in their native habitat, some produce multipile trunks and some single. I expect Nigel and the guys down south would know more about this than I do.

T. campestris has many forms. Some are green, some grey/silver and some very silver. I'm green with envy as I gave Ruth Bancroft a couple of plants some years ago, and both of hers are very silver, much more so than mine. They are quite veariable, even from the same seed lot.

Dick

[ghar41]

Dick,

I recall some of yours being a brilliant blue-green, my favorite variety of campestris.  It's a color I have not seen on any other palm, except one....

Phil Nickel has a small trithrinax, I guess it's schitzphyllia, but it looks like the palm in the bottom picture of our NC website description...as it has short, wide leaflets(rather than the long thin ones) and an incredible satinlike texture (maybe its just a stunted campestris.)..

http://www.palmsnc.org/pages/palm_detail.php?id=74

Is there a Trithrinax biflabellata?

[PalmGuyWC]

Hi Glenn,

Yes there is a T. biflabellata and I have one. I bumped up my Dick Douglas Garden thread and it's pictured on page 3 of my thread on Travel logs. T. biflabellata has the same growth characteristics of T. campestris, however it's a much smaller palm. Mine is about 18 years old and is only about 4 feet high, and it has not bloomed yet. It has much softer foliage than T. Campestris. Even though it's small, each trunk grows about 6 or 7 fronds a year, so it can't be called slow growing. It seems to be quite cold hardy, as the others are. Mine has several trunks.

It must be quite rare in the USA because I've never seen another picture of one that someone has grown.

Dick

[Exotic Life]

(ghar41 @ Feb. 08 2008,13:32)

QUOTE

Charles, you did it!  Great pic...including flowers!

And Exotic Life-  another great pic...any votes for most cold hardy palm known?

This amazing palm has leaves so stiff they remain perfectly rigid at horizontal or even downfacing 45 deg. angles.  An amazing garden could be planted in parts of USDA zone 6 (ok maybe zone 7) with Rhapidophylum and this palm that would be stunning.  The color contrast between these two palms would be nice, esp. if surrounded by annuals, ect.

Hi,

I don't know if i understand you on the right way, but if you want to know what over here the most votes get for most cold hardy palm, then it will be Trachycarpus fortunei.

Tritrinax campestris can have more frost but can have sometimes damage from a lot of rain... He don't like that always... fortunei is easy and don't care the netherlands weather.

Robbin

[Exotic Life]

(Nigel @ Feb. 09 2008,10:24)

QUOTE

The strange but wonderful thing about my Trithrinax campestris is that it continues to grow in winter. No other palm does this.

Nigel,

No? other palms don't grow? I don't have got a Tritrinax already in my collection so i don't know but what i know that my Trachycarpus, Chamaerops, Washingtonia, even my Sabal is growing slowly.

Robbin

[mjff]

I've got two T. campestris that resemble the photos in post 22.  One still has a single trunk, and the other has two trunks.  

I also recently acquired some T. acanthicoma in 25 gal containers.  They were beautiful when they arrived, then a cold front blew through with gusty N winds (40+ mph) and really mangled some of the fronds.  At the time they were sitting in an unsheltered spot on my driveway.  I am going to try to plant them in a spot that normally doesn't experience high wind gusts.

[Nigel]

If you see a single trunked Trithrinax campestris in Europe then chances are its been hacked apart from another one in a nursery somewhere.

Trithrinax biflabelata is the only unarmed Trithrinax and there is a lot of confusion about it.

Robbin, this year most palms are still growing a bit, but in a normal winter they mostly stop.

[Exotic Life]

(Nigel @ Feb. 10 2008,03:21)

QUOTE

If you see a single trunked Trithrinax campestris in Europe then chances are its been hacked apart from another one in a nursery somewhere.

Trithrinax biflabelata is the only unarmed Trithrinax and there is a lot of confusion about it.

Robbin, this year most palms are still growing a bit, but in a normal winter they mostly stop.

Nigel,

And last winter (2006/2007), also that winter palms don't stop with growing over here.

Robbin

[PalmGuyWC]

Yesterday I visited the Ruth Bancroft Garden to pick up an Agave Webberi pup to be shipped to a friend of mine in Dallas. As I followed the cuerator across the garden we passed the two Trithrinax that I had given Ruth years ago. The palms look quite different, as one is very silver with narrow pointed blades and the other is more compact with blunt stubby fronds, but still with the lethal needle on the tips.

I remember now that I grew up a batch of Trithrinax schizophylla years ago, and since I already had two T. campestris and room for no more, I gave all the  T. schizophylla away and I think the compact one in the Bancroft garden is one of the T. schizophylla. I'm still not convinced that T. schizophylla is not just another form of T. campestris. As small 1 gal plants they both looked just alike.

T. campestris is the only palm I have that blooms in the fall, in October and November.  All the others bloom in the Spring and Summer.

Dick

[Phil]

Some time back there were pictures posted of Trithrinax campestris in habitat.  These plants were being bulldozed for development.   Below is a shot of a smaller plant that shows its usual appearance.  Around town here in San Diego there are some very large specimens.  I'd say it takes about 20 years to get a big one.  A surefire way (but also potentially painful and bloody) of telling a campestris is to carefully feel the tips of the leaves with your hand.   The leaves are unbelievable sharp and needlelike.  They'll easily penetrate skin.  I don't really know of another species that's quite this dangerous at the leaf tips.

Phil

[MattyB]

This one at the LA Arboretum is the hugemongousest! :laugh:

[ghar41]

Hey Matty,

I think this palm fell over.  Last summer I was looking for this palm and only saw a large one on the ground.... is this the same palm?

[Alberto]

(Charles/Portugal @ Feb. 08 2008,13:13)

QUOTE

Here is one flowering.... in Portugal

Que belezinha! What a cute little palm!

How old is this,do you know Charles?

I have a lot of seedlings that I finally plant in the ground this year.  I want know how long have I to wait to see something like this in my garden....

[Charles Wychgel]

Alberto ,I bought it big 2 meter, guess it was 10 to 15 years of age.

It was the most expensive palm I ever bought, at 400 gulden/meter it came to 1000 Nfl, including transport from Spain. Kassa!!!!!

[MattyB]

(ghar41 @ Feb. 14 2008,11:38)

QUOTE

Hey Matty,

I think this palm fell over.  Last summer I was looking for this palm and only saw a large one on the ground.... is this the same palm?

Glenn, I don't know.  It probably is because if you were looking for it I don't see how you could miss it.   That's sad!  Both trunks were on the ground?

[ghar41]

(MattyB @ Feb. 14 2008,16:29)

QUOTE

(ghar41 @ Feb. 14 2008,11:38)

QUOTE

Hey Matty,

I think this palm fell over.  Last summer I was looking for this palm and only saw a large one on the ground.... is this the same palm?

Glenn, I don't know.  It probably is because if you were looking for it I don't see how you could miss it.   That's sad!  Both trunks were on the ground?

I'm sure it's the same one.  I had seen it years ago... and was was really bummed to find the tall trunk laying flat on the ground.  It was a stud palm.  The shorter one was still standing.

[PalmGuyWC]

I remember seeing the T. campestris at the L.A. Arboretum some years ago, and it looked pretty sad then. The taller trunk was leaning at quite an angle, so maybe gravity won. Maybe the shorter trunk will do better now. The largest one I've seen in Calif. with multiple trunks is at the Huntington.

I had heard that the one growing at the Huntington was a division that was taken from the Wright estate when it was broken up years ago. I never did hear where the other half went.

There was a time when T. campestris was extreamly rare in the USA, and the only nursery that had any was David Berry's nursery in Brentwood. That is where I got mine as 1 gal. sizes and they were VERY expensive.

It's nice to see they are being grown throughout Calif. now and there are mature, fruiting specimens. It's still an uncomon palm, because many collectors don't want such a viscious palm in their garden, or else the price stops some people and of course they are very slow to grow to any size.

Dick

[ghar41]

(PalmGuyWC @ Feb. 15 2008,08:48)

QUOTE

It's still an uncomon palm, because many collectors don't want such a viscious palm in their garden, or else the price stops some people

Dick

Viscious palm no doubt.  Ive had a tough time finding suitable planting sites in full sun.  It cant go near the pool, and I had to choose carefully in the front yard because my kids are always playing out there.

Even with pets.  With a soft toss you could skewer a small dog.