Livistona mariae

[gsn]

I have an aquaintance who gave me 10 of these seeds,7 germinated and are now 2 strap leaf seedlings. At least that is what he said they were?

I haven't found much on the web,but did find this paper published in 1998. It gave alot of taxonomy information, but very little growing information.

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets.../Tel8Rod049.pdf

I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this species, is the name still valid, growth rate, likes/dislikes, dry/wet conditions,full sun/ partial sun from a seedling stage, cold hardiness or lack thereof? I have not seen the mother palm unfortunately, any pics of either juvenile,or adult plants?

Aussies feel free to comment ,as this is a native of Australia!

thanks in advance

Edited November 21, 2008 by gsn

[Jonathan]

Scott,

I havn't got L. mariae myself - yet! - but I'd bet its the hardiest Livistona....its from Central Australia, which can see some pretty cold nights in winter - lowest on record is -3.9C (25F) - and temps up to 48C (118F) in summer. In habitat it lives on alluvial soils in river valleys with a high water table - so it must see the odd flood.

Full sun from birth is the go, and heat and water....

Hopefully someone who's actually grown it can help you out, meanwhile try PACSOA website

for more information.

This ones on my wish list, but I suspect it will be a long sloooow grow in my cool climate!

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Tala]

I planted one in spring 1996 @ 3 ft overall, lost it's maroon color around chest high. Now easily past 20 ft. overall. Relatively fast growth, produces around 20 total fronds per yr. Wish I could post pics have a few nice shots of it. Anyway it was undamaged by 25F low among others, seems resistant to heavy frost as well. It flowered for the 1st time last yr and produced viable seed for the 1st time this yr. They do well in full sun to light shade as tiny sdlgs, all day full sun is best once they develop palmate leaves. As adults they grow without any special needs but like any Liv they luv wet feet in the summer, impossible to over water in sandy soils.

A short while ago someone had posted pics of the native habitat, my vocab. does not do it justice, just stunningly beautiful.

Also planted lookalike relative L.rigida in summer 1996 @ 3 ft overall. Appears to grow at same pace as mariae. Did not hold it's juvenile maroon colored fronds as long as mariae. Rodd's older mono has them combined, noting some small variances in segment size, upper surface color, fruit size but other than that there seems to be no (vegetative) difference between the two. Dowe's new mono will have them split apart, as well as the 3rd sub-sp. (occidentalis = nasmophylla). Which to my eyes looks nothing like the other two.

Here the L.rigida is undamaged @ 25F as well. Lastly one older grower of both noted that during record cold of '89 he lost all but one mariae and none of the rigida, these at the time fairly large juvenile to adult plants. He surmised that "wet" cold was no friend to mariae, more than likely something it never sees in its desert-like habitat while the rigida seems to be more adaptable to this. I've noticed no diff. to cold for either species here (have just the one of each) but I'm not 100% sold on ID, most likely will try to get Dowe or another botanist's opinion on my two.

Edited November 21, 2008 by Tala

[gsn]

Jonathan,

Thanks for the reply,and info. The PASCO link is unbeliveable,thanks.

Dave ,

Thanks for the cultural info,and info about possible look alike relatives. I can only assume these seeds were actually L.mariae,since that is what I was told ?Any others that will show the red coloration,other than mariae,and rigida?

The pic you might be talking about, might be on the link at the PASCO site Jonathan just posted, L. mariae in habitat. There are several others habitat pics there as well. Would I be correct in assuming this is one of the rarer Livistona species?

Here is one of the pics

Edited November 21, 2008 by gsn

[merrill]

Livistona mariae is the coldhardiest Livistona I've had in terms of survival, but may suffer defoliation more easily than some; not sure of that. I regret I didn't feed mine better; it is close to 30 yrs. old and should be much taller than it is. There was a very tall one on the downhill corner of Singapore B. G.; it may have been 60 ft. tall or more years ago.

merrill

[paulgila]

livistona mariae in garden of "the dewd"

lessee if i have this link thing figgered out...

[paulgila]

woohooo!!!!!

the l.mariae is at the end of the pix.

thanks for the help,mattyb!

[gsn]

Merrill,

Thanks for the cold hardiness info,as always a wealth of palm information!

Paul, aka The DEWD

Nice pics in the link!

Hows come your L. mariae ain't got no red or burgundy in it?

I must have missed all this conversation on L. mariae on the forum the first time around.

thanks to all who replied.

Edited November 22, 2008 by gsn

[Jeff Searle]

Scott,

For us down here in South Florida, this is about as easy as it gets for growing palms. I planted one out near the office over 10 years ago and it's well over 30' now. It loose's it's color at a small size once planted out. I agree, it's pretty cold hardy and never shows any damage.

As a seedling, when it gets 3-4 leaves, plant it into a one gallon and give it almost full sun for the day. Within 6-8 months, it should be on it's way to step up into a 3 gallon. Their easy to grow. Plant it where you would with most other species of the genus.

Jeff

[gsn]

Jeff,

Thanks for the detailed growing info,you can bet I will follow you advice!

Except I already bumped them to a 1 gallon as two leaf seedlings.

I was in a California state of mind at the time, obviously!

[paulgila]

Merrill,

Thanks for the cold hardiness info,as always a wealth of palm information!

Paul, aka The DEWD

Nice pics in the link!

Hows come your L. mariae ain't got no red or burgundy in it?

I must have missed all this conversation on L. mariae on the forum the first time around.

thanks to all who replied.

it had some before.maybe it leaked out.

[brodklop]

Here is an old group i n Brisbanes old BG. They are easy to grow from the top to the bottom of OZ.

[Matthew92]

Here's one in Homestead FL. Not the best picture lighting-wise, and it is a lot bigger (at least 10 feet more) now as this was taken in 2009. It really looks like a chinensis in this picture, but in person you can really tell it's different. I was only told that it is an "Australian Fan Palm" so I'm just guessing that it's mariae. It was planted here as a small tree in the last 20 years. The land there is Everglades that was drained so there's just solid limestone rock under the relatively shallow, mucky soil. It drops seeds constantly and apparently there are some bad problems with rats in the canopy. When I visit my relatives there, I always try to see if there are viable seeds underneath, but it seems like every one has a perfectly circular hole bored through as if from some kind of larvae. Despite this though, there still are several plants that have sprouted underneath. 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2015 by Opal92