Loyalty to the King

[Palm Hound]

Why is it your favorite? Speed of growth? Beauty? Tolerant of certain conditions?

[joe_OC]

I have not seen most of the others, but I selected cunningham because they got me more interested in palms and opened up the doors for me to explore all the other palms available.

[Walter John]

Very tough choice, but this week I've gone for the maxima. I've seen mature specimens of each the so called kings except for myolensis, and I have one of each growing at home. I've gone for maxima for it's sheer beauty and power look and I'm referring to the one growing at Daryl's place as mine are still yet to mature.

I doubt whether too many people have seen mature specimens of each of the Archos. It's hard to go past a well grown alex for that matter, this is a tough poll.

[Pivi]

Auch, this is a tough vote...

I like them all. It's really hard to choose one.

Tuckeri for it's speed, cunnighamiana for it's hardiness, purpurea for it's look...

But in the end they all have a great look.

This time i choose purpurea

[madagascarbob]

Maxima is a beast ! Mine is passing queens that are twice it's age and denting car roofs as it drops leafs !

[Palm Guy]

Purpurea, just because I like colorful crownshafts.

[ruskinPalms]

I went with alexandrae but maybe for lack of experience. I have only seen alexandrae and cunninghamiana as mature specimens. I have both in the yard and the alexandrae pretty much shame the cunninghamiana in regards to speed of growth and I like the look of thier fronds better too.

Pivi, that picture is outstanding! Those are beautiful. If I were to see purpurea in person I might have to change my mind.

[Pivi]

Yes those purpureas on the picture are beautiful  

[Scott]

I'm glad this came up because it give me the opportunity to ask, when buying the Archontophoenix, how can you tell the difference between the alexandrae and cunninghamiana?

Especially when much younger.

[osideterry]

I didn't vote because it's too hard.

This past Fall I potted 3 different archos ina 10-gallon pot. Left to right: alexandra, purpurea, and myolensis.

[osideterry]

I just voted for alexandra because I wanted to see how the poll was going. I also like it's speed.

Here's a closeup of the archos. This is going in the ground in June.

[Jeff Searle]

I like them all. But if I had to choose, it would probably have to be A. purpurea. Because of it's unique color.

Jeff

[Exotic Life]

I can't grow them here in the groudn but i voted voor A. cunninghamiana.

Robbin

[brodklop]

I like Pururea. Every aspect of it is great. The robust southern form of Cuninghamiana when grown well is a good sight. This of cause opens up a can of worms which no botanist seems unable to clarify. One only has to grow the Sth Queensland lowland form from the coast along side the southern NSW form to see the huge difference. The Sth Queensland form is very fine in it's form a bit like Tuckeri is in the general Alex form. But the southern form of Cuninghamiana is a huge beast by comparison. I am sure most palm growers are aware of this but botanists seem to focus on flowers and fruit and miss the blatantly obvious. To their credit they have managed to chop up into pieces the Alexandra complex into separate species maybe someone can do the same with Cuninghamiana. Some have suggested that the robust form is a hibrid. There are many hibrids out there but if you collect the seed from the wild as I have you can quickly see the difference from first signs of growth .

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Purpurea without a doubt...  I love allthe Archontos because of the pinnate leaf structure and self cleaning nature, but the colored crownshaft on a vivid specimen is unreal!  The ninth picture on Dave's Garden of this palm is what got me hooked on rare palms...

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/87473/

[SunnyFl]

My vote was absolutely purpurea.  The color of the crownshafts is amazing.  And the fronds are gorgeous as well.   Anyone who had seen Jeff in Costa Rica's place in Tampa probably remembers his beautiful purpurea in the ground.

Pivi, your photo of the purpureas really shows how incredible these palms are.

My baby is struggling along after being hammered by wind (what else is new) shortly after I planted it.  No lavendar yet but this weekend, it's pushing a new spear!  (Sorry, don't mean to hijack, just wanted to share.)

Long live the Purple King!

[realarch]

All of the palms in the genus are beautiful to me. The cunninghamiana here in SoCal with the lavender blossoms, just the shear numbers of alexandrae in east Hawaii, but after seeing purpurea I'd have to say that is my favorite. There will be a few of those in my future landscape plans.

Tim

[ghar41]

Purpurea is the most attractive that ive seen but madagascarbob's car bombing maxima sounds outrageous!....I'm yet to but have to see one of these.

[madagascarbob]

[LJG]

Wow. I am amazed only me and one other palm genius selected A. myolensis. To me, A. purpurea is nicest small. But once they all grow tall, A. myolensis is the only one to look more different then the rest. Maybe its just me.

PS - Terry, you are a mad scientist! (I actually like that idea.)

[osideterry]

Wow Rich, that lives up to the name maxima. It didn't happen to dent a Nissan Maxima? That would be extremely ironic!

Len - I would have voted Myola King, but have never seen a mature one first hand. I put a 5g purpurea with 1g alex and myola. It's supposed to be slower, so it gets a head start.

[madagascarbob]

(osideterry @ Feb. 17 2008,20:41)

QUOTE

Wow Rich, that lives up to the name maxima. It didn't happen to dent a Nissan Maxima? That would be extremely ironic!

It dented  a MINI Cooper (not mine )  still  ironic !

[Palm Hound]

My myola planted last year. It is supposed to have some blue to the crownshaft. It is growing slower than my cunninghamiana during the winter.

[Walter John]

(brodklop @ Feb. 18 2008,07:16)

QUOTE

I like Pururea. Every aspect of it is great. The robust southern form of Cuninghamiana when grown well is a good sight. This of cause opens up a can of worms which no botanist seems unable to clarify. One only has to grow the Sth Queensland lowland form from the coast along side the southern NSW form to see the huge difference. The Sth Queensland form is very fine in it's form a bit like Tuckeri is in the general Alex form. But the southern form of Cuninghamiana is a huge beast by comparison. I am sure most palm growers are aware of this but botanists seem to focus on flowers and fruit and miss the blatantly obvious. To their credit they have managed to chop up into pieces the Alexandra complex into separate species maybe someone can do the same with Cuninghamiana. Some have suggested that the robust form is a hibrid. There are many hibrids out there but if you collect the seed from the wild as I have you can quickly see the difference from first signs of growth .

It has been debated in the US of the Illawarra version  of Archo cunninghamiana being able to handle cold weather better. It was on this board, quite some time ago though.

Check this out

Illawarra king palm

[ghar41]

Cheers for the pic, madagascarbob!  

I'm really intrigued by this palm, the leaves are really attractive, almost without petioles... any reports on it's hardiness to cold?  More or less than cunninghamiana?

[Palm Hound]

Len, can you further describe how myolensis looks different than the others when it matures.

[osideterry]

Palmhound - I've seen a couple of Myolas with maybe 2-3 ft of trunk. The trunk actually retains green color several leaf node rings down instead of the normal greyish brown. Very cool looking. Also the leaves seemed to be held more upright than a cunninghamiana.

Yours looks very healthy. Since the first year is all root growth, that thing should pick up speed this Summer.

[madagascarbob]

(ghar41 @ Feb. 17 2008,21:09)

QUOTE

Cheers for the pic, madagascarbob!  

I'm really intrigued by this palm, the leaves are really attractive, almost without petioles... any reports on it's hardiness to cold?  More or less than cunninghamiana?

Takes cold very well. I had an alexandrea next to it that would get cooked from frost Maxima did fine .Also can take wind better than all my other  kings.It has almost no petioles and the leaflets are very wide ,almost like chambyronia but over lapping .I dont remember the date it was planted around 10 years ago from a 5 gal. pot .

[osideterry]

Here's a pic of what I believe is an A. myolensis I saw in Mexico last Fall. It looks a lot like the palmbob myola photo on davesgarden.com.

I haven't seen him post for a while, but "bigwavedave" in Lake Forest has a maxima that looks exactly like madagascarbob's only shorter.

[Palm Hound]

Does anyone know why the crownshaft of the purpurea is more lavender in some places (Hawaii?) and less beautiful (more brownish green) in CA?

[LJG]

(Palm Hound @ Feb. 17 2008,20:18)

QUOTE

Does anyone know why the crownshaft of the purpurea is more lavender in some places (Hawaii?) and less beautiful (more brownish green) in CA?

Yep. Definitely so! The more humid, the more purple from what I guess.

David, in a botanical garden in HI I saw a few species growing in close proximity. Of course they all look so similar large, but to me the Myolensis looked more ornamental because the way the crown looks with the larger leaflets on the fronds. They just seemed to have a fuller, less 'ratty' look about them. In fact I found it to be nicer that I decided to take out my Cunninghamiana's and I replaced them with 4 smaller Myolas. Even at a small size you can see the leaflets are wider.

Of course this could all be the results of a fact I might have just saw some excellently grown Myolensis compared to some not so well other Archontophoenix's which gave me a false perception.

I would love to hear what some Aussies or others have to say that have 4 or 5 different species all growing together.

[Palm Hound]

There is an interesting King Palm called Monstera that is sold at this So. CA nursery. They claim it has a larger crown, and shorter but stockier stem. I ended up buying a larger 1 gallon, because my curiosity got the best of me. So far it has fat leaflets and a fat stem, but time will tell.

http://www.seasidepalm.com/plantlist_000.htm#palms

[Don Little]

Len, I was the other one who voted for A myolensis and I too was surprised that so few voted for it.  Even at a small size their crownshaft stands out as unique.  That along with from what I have been told they tend to have a stepped trunk more like A alex Beatrice.  

Bob that Maxima is an incredible specimen, I planted a maxima out this year next to my myolensis, I look forward to seeing them both grow side by side.  It would be nice if someone could post a photo of a mature specimen of each of the Archo's.

That said I like each of different species.  I would like to add an A tuckeri and Alex to complete my collection.

[Urban Rainforest]

(Palm Hound @ Feb. 17 2008,23:18)

QUOTE

Does anyone know why the crownshaft of the purpurea is more lavender in some places (Hawaii?) and less beautiful (more brownish green) in CA?

While this overall probably is true I have seen some very purple specimens in Cali including this one in my front yard.

[Urban Rainforest]

Here is the same palm as above about to flower for the first time.

[Urban Rainforest]

Here is a smaller triple Purpurea.

[LJG]

Steve, it looks like most yours just lost their old leaf sheaths. I have noticed mine is really purple once the old sheath is removed but quickly fades over the next week or so.

[Urban Rainforest]

(LJG @ Feb. 18 2008,02:44)

QUOTE

Steve, it looks like most yours just lost their old leaf sheaths. I have noticed mine is really purple once the old sheath is removed but quickly fades over the next week or so.

Len, Your right about the color after a shed leaf base being the most intense but I believe that is true with most palms. And there is a lot of variability in color in the Purpurea's. The first pic I posted was taken right after a rain and all the palms looked more colorfull that day. Here is a Purpurea triple that I have planted in full sun. This is an old pic but the palm in the front has brown/black teddy bear fuzz when it sheds a leafbase. This trait has become more prominent with age and it looks like Lastelliana when it sheds a leafbase  ??? .

Steve

[Tyrone]

I love them all and can't possibly pick a "best". It's like asking which one of your children is your favourite. Anyway I have them all now, and have seen all except A tuckeri in the wild. There all AWESOME. Plant heaps.

regards

Tyrone

[madagascarbob]

I must have some how missed Mt. lewis name change to Purpurea .This palm will not grow in my yard ,I've tried about 7 and they all have been super slow , get fried from frost and normal fertilizing ,are never purple and eventualy die . I've got one left that has about 3 feet of trunk and looks like it's on it's way out .It was planted about 15 years ago and has never looked good .