Archontophoenix maxima

[tanetahi]

A few photos I took around lunch time today in the Herberton Range, on north Queensland's Atherton Tableland. This grove of A. maxima is growing along a permanent creek in moist sclerophyll forest dominated by Eucalyptus grandis. It does burn from time to time, but the palms are somewhat protected by the moist ground either side of the creek.

[tanetahi]

some more;

Photos are in my Archontophoenix FlickR set.

Edited August 28, 2009 by tanetahi

[paulgila]

great pix! maxima is the prettiest archontophoenix,as far as i am concerned.

thanks for posting these photos.

[DoomsDave]

M A G N I F I C E N T ! ! ! ! !

[Kim]

I always appreciate a good habitat photo, thanks!!

[osideterry]

Great photos... so clean looking for habitat images. Maxima and tuckeri are the two Archos I still need to plant. I feel another mixed triple coming on...

[realarch]

Nice photos of such beautiful palms. Oh boy, another one to add to the list.

Tim

[sonoranfans]

Sure appears that the eucalyptus are not killing off the maximas by "strangling them with the roots" or with "herbicide eucalyptus oils". I've heard this said here before, but its obviously not true. Maximas are terriffic palms, love the in habitat pics.

[Walter John]

Excellent Peter, habitat maximas, very nice indeed.

[Joe palma]

Those are some really nice pics of happy maximas at home!

And tall ones too.

The fronds look virtually perfect! Great job posting those Peter.

Glad I have a bunch of those, but they will almost certainly never look as nice in So Cal as they do in Queensland.

[tanetahi]

thanks all, for your comments. I too was surprised by the clarity of these pics, because usually in-habitat shots are beset by lighting problems.

Sure appears that the eucalyptus are not killing off the maximas by "strangling them with the roots" or with "herbicide eucalyptus oils". I've heard this said here before, but its obviously not true. Maximas are terriffic palms, love the in habitat pics.

You raise an interesting point. Within Australia, we tend to forget that overseas, eucalypts are cast in the role of eco-terrorists. Its just not an issue here, I suspect mainly because they don't grow with the unchecked vigour that they do overseas, due to recurrent fire, disease and insects here, but it may also be that the plants that grow in association with them in the wild have a degree of immunity to their allelopathy and soil-drying.

[Tyrone]

Thanks for those awesome pictures Peter.

This is what Palmtalk is all about.

Best regards

Tyrone

[sonoranfans]

thanks all, for your comments. I too was surprised by the clarity of these pics, because usually in-habitat shots are beset by lighting problems.

Sure appears that the eucalyptus are not killing off the maximas by "strangling them with the roots" or with "herbicide eucalyptus oils". I've heard this said here before, but its obviously not true. Maximas are terriffic palms, love the in habitat pics.

You raise an interesting point. Within Australia, we tend to forget that overseas, eucalypts are cast in the role of eco-terrorists. Its just not an issue here, I suspect mainly because they don't grow with the unchecked vigour that they do overseas, due to recurrent fire, disease and insects here, but it may also be that the plants that grow in association with them in the wild have a degree of immunity to their allelopathy and soil-drying.

LOL, I have 3 in my backyard and several palms(no kings) under them. My little royals are thriving as is the phoenix sylvestris and the 2 Bizzies nearby(within15') are pumping out spears like they are on steroids. Everything I have near them is growing fast, plants, palms, shrubs, everything. I think people are somewhat misinformed w/regard to the eucalyptus( I have microtheca(coolibah) and papuana). It could also be that there are 480 species of eucalyptus and that the behaviors of a few have been generalized to the whole lot of them. I have a texas mountian laurel right under the biggest one, within 4' or so of the trunk, no issues in 3 years as its the fastest growing of my 4 mountain laurels. Now if I could only grow those gorgeous maximas under them.

[edric]

Spectacular photos! Ed

[Hollywood Palms]

Gorgeous!

David

[Daryl]

thanks all, for your comments. I too was surprised by the clarity of these pics, because usually in-habitat shots are beset by lighting problems.

Sure appears that the eucalyptus are not killing off the maximas by "strangling them with the roots" or with "herbicide eucalyptus oils". I've heard this said here before, but its obviously not true. Maximas are terriffic palms, love the in habitat pics.

You raise an interesting point. Within Australia, we tend to forget that overseas, eucalypts are cast in the role of eco-terrorists. Its just not an issue here, I suspect mainly because they don't grow with the unchecked vigour that they do overseas, due to recurrent fire, disease and insects here, but it may also be that the plants that grow in association with them in the wild have a degree of immunity to their allelopathy and soil-drying.

LOL, I have 3 in my backyard and several palms(no kings) under them. My little royals are thriving as is the phoenix sylvestris and the 2 Bizzies nearby(within15') are pumping out spears like they are on steroids. Everything I have near them is growing fast, plants, palms, shrubs, everything. I think people are somewhat misinformed w/regard to the eucalyptus( I have microtheca(coolibah) and papuana). It could also be that there are 480 species of eucalyptus and that the behaviors of a few have been generalized to the whole lot of them. I have a texas mountian laurel right under the biggest one, within 4' or so of the trunk, no issues in 3 years as its the fastest growing of my 4 mountain laurels. Now if I could only grow those gorgeous maximas under them.

Some species are much worse than others. Flooded Gum is one of the better species, and doesn't seem to impact on the surrounding plants.

And nice photos Peter!

Daryl

[Alicehunter2000]

Peter, you live with wonderful natural surroundings. I would imagine that you would spend alot of time out there just soaking it in. I can just picture a kangaroo jumping across the path in front of you......how cool is that.

[LauraAnu]

Great shots Peter. You now have me lusting after another palm tree. I may need to start growing from seeds.

Laura

[Walter John]

Peter, you live with wonderful natural surroundings. I would imagine that you would spend alot of time out there just soaking it in. I can just picture a kangaroo jumping across the path in front of you......how cool is that.

then shoot it

sorry, couldn't help it, painting that jumping kangaroo picture by americans always does that to me.

[Daryl]

mmmm, Kanga steaks for dinner!

[Daryl]

I do love this species...IMO it, along with A.purpurea is the most impressive species in the genus.

Mine just dropped a huge leaf to expose a spathe that is 5 ft long...much larger the A.alexandrae...the flowers make great mulch too!

[sonoranfans]

Peter, you live with wonderful natural surroundings. I would imagine that you would spend alot of time out there just soaking it in. I can just picture a kangaroo jumping across the path in front of you......how cool is that.

then shoot it

sorry, couldn't help it, painting that jumping kangaroo picture by americans always does that to me.

LOL! Yeah Wal I'll bet that most americans dont understand that the roos are overrunning the continent and eating everything they can reach, endangering the entire ecosystem. Here in the USA we have areas where deer just strip all lower vegetation from yards. And for 2 months a year they get incredibly stupid during mating season, with 30 million deer out there running in front of motorist to the tune of 1.5 million car/deer accidents a year(NHSTA). I remember dreading driving during those months before I moved out to the desert. I knew one of those dumb animals would jump out of the brush at the last moment and smack, $500 deductible on my insurance.

[Moose]

mmmm, Kanga steaks for dinner!

Peter - thank you for the habitat photos. It is always great to see what palms do in their natural state. A friend of mine just planted an A. maxima and I forwarded your post to her. Thanks again.

Daryl & Wal - This American enjoys his Skippy filete medium rare.

Kindest regards,

Ron.

[Walter John]

Peter, you live with wonderful natural surroundings. I would imagine that you would spend alot of time out there just soaking it in. I can just picture a kangaroo jumping across the path in front of you......how cool is that.

then shoot it

sorry, couldn't help it, painting that jumping kangaroo picture by americans always does that to me.

LOL! Yeah Wal I'll bet that most americans dont understand that the roos are overrunning the continent and eating everything they can reach, endangering the entire ecosystem. Here in the USA we have areas where deer just strip all lower vegetation from yards. And for 2 months a year they get incredibly stupid during mating season, with 30 million deer out there running in front of motorist to the tune of 1.5 million car/deer accidents a year(NHSTA). I remember dreading driving during those months before I moved out to the desert. I knew one of those dumb animals would jump out of the brush at the last moment and smack, $500 deductible on my insurance.

That's not what we meant with our snarkasm, but I'll let it slide for now.

[tanetahi]

Thanks again all, for your enthusiastic response. I do indeed spend a lot of time out in the bush, and yes, you do get wallabies and sometimes kangaroos bounding away when they sense your approach. Kangaroo over-population is more of an issue out in the open savanna grasslands of the interior and further south, rather than up here in the tropics. But wallaby roadkill is always happening around here. Marsupials don't have a lot of road sense.

This is Archontophoenix purpurea in the wild on Mt. Lewis. I took a few shots when I was up the mountain last, but this is the only image I have uploaded to FlickR so far. From what I have seen, there is a lot of variation in the intensity of the colour, but it is not correlated with sun exposure/shading. I don't know to what extent it is a stable genetically determined trait, or whether it varies with how recently fronds have been shed or how active growth is, for example. I have heard that sets of plants raised overseas in cultivation also have a range of intensities of purple flushing, so it may well be substantially genetic.

Edited August 30, 2009 by tanetahi