recent variegated Rhapis purchase

[JD in the OC]

Picked up this bad boy today. Any idea which cultivar it is?

[LauraAnu]

Hi,

This looks like a varigated Rhapis excelsa I saw on the site rare palm.com with a name Rhapis excelsa var. ayanishiki

Laura

[JD in the OC]

It's not AYANISHIKI... I already have that.

[The Germinator]

Are these bad boys exspensive?

[JD in the OC]

Depends on whether or not the seller knows what he has. In this case, he didn't

[freddie]

Hi JD, nice palm!

Blimy, there's hundreds of these things that all look similar so I'm gonna throw a dart at the board.... and guess at Chiyodazuru

[JD in the OC]

freddie,

Cool, thanks! I would say that is a pretty close match!! Here is a pic of Chiyodazuru from easternnurseries:

[JD in the OC]

freddie,

The only problems is that asiaticanursery.com says this about it: "This is an especially tall and vigorous cultivar of Japanese lady palm that is much used in interior landscaping in Japan." The clump that mine came off of was definitely a dwarf variety...

[freddie]

Hiya JD,

I'm still very much the beginner at this but I've always been under the impression that all of the variegated cultivars are dwarf or miniature forms of r. excelsa. An old mature plant reaching a height of 4-6' is considered extremely tall, as compared to 12-16' for large excelsa. So I think the asiaticanursery comment is referring to Chiyodazuru being an especially tall and vigorous cultivar for a dwarf palm. That's my take on it anyway.

Yours certainly looks the same as the pic of Chiyodazuru from easternnurseries. Theirs appears to be quite old and about 2-3' high (going by the corregated panel in the background, which looks like a garage door)

These are great palms I reckon. Big rewards for a fairly easy care plant. I love 'em.

Oh yeah, and it should probably be "bad girl" rather than boy, after all they are lady palms!!

[Creekside]

I've also been curious about whether or not they are all really dwarf cultivars. I have an unnamed cultivar (in 7 and 15-gal containers) that at 4-5' are not mature and are not slowing down. They are, so far, virtually identical to green excelsa except for the stunning striations, so I want to see just how big they'll get! My Toyonishikis are clearly smaller and slower.

JD, that's a pretty Rhapis!

[freddie]

There's loads of info on rhapis and an excellent article by Lynn McKamey on rhapisgardens.com (I think the article is also available on the IPS site) In it she states that the green and variegated Japanese cultivars of r.excelsa are collectively known as miniature lady palms and many of them were developed by special selection of slow growing strains. They are then further "dwarfed" by growing them in small pots of sand or gravel and limiting fertilizer applications thereby restricting root growth. If given unrestricted growing conditions, some of these "miniature" cultivars can exceed 8' in height, however there's also some true dwarf varieties that don't grow beyond 4'.

[JD in the OC]

freddie,

Well put! I'll go with your ID then. My TAIZANNISHIKI is very slow and seems to have dwarf-like morphology. I also just bought a nice 4 foot tall rhapis that I thought was AYANISHIKI, but when comparing it with the AYANISHIKI I already have, they seem to be different. I don't think this one is a dwarf at all. I'll post pics of it too.

Boy, IDing these is tricky business for sure!! I have always been intrigued by Rhapis cultivars because the most expensive palm ever sold was a Rhapis variety (from what I heard)...

JD

[eastern.nurseries]

Hello, JD's palm is Kinponishiki like this one

And some commercial product , Heiseinishiki, Kinponishiki andTaizannishiki

[JD in the OC]

easternnurseries,

thx for the ID!! I always try to know the exact names of my varieg rhapis. Thanks for trying freddie, but I think I'm going to go with his ID

I had no idea my TAIZANNISHIKI will get that big!!! My other mystery rhapis could very well be Heiseinnishiki, I will take a pic and post it.

Hey, seems like these are easier than mystery Dypsis

[JD in the OC]

easternnurseries, are you sure I have a Kinponishiki? The striped on mine seem more muted than Kinponishiki. The close-up of Kinponishiki on your website doesn't look like mine either, unless it has just been receiving more fertilizer??

Here is mystery Rhapis #1

[JD in the OC]

and mystery Rhapis #2 (the grower called it AYANISHIKI)

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

Very nice find, JD!

Rusty

[eastern.nurseries]

JD, I'm sure it is Kinponishiki. My plants are grown under much higher light levels and a longer photoperiod, this makes a big difference to the appearance of the variegation. Variegated Rhapis grown under low light are hard to identify as they become muted in pattern and stretched in confirmation. The second palm has the leaf shape some what like Nanzannishiki, and the last picture I'm unsure of but it does not look like Ayanishiki at all. Frankly the lower the grade within the variety the more difficult they are to identify. I shall try to post some pictures of these varieties soon

[JD in the OC]

Makes sense! I await your pictures...

[freddie]

Hi y'all

Dang! My first guess for the new palm was Kinponishiki but after comparing it to mine and as many other photos as I could find (probably the same ones you looked at JD!) I went with chiyodazuru. I have a palm that was bought as Kinponishiki and it's lime green and dark green striped only (no yellow). So now I'm completely confused These little ladies certainly are tricky! I tried to get some pics of mine but they didn't turn out very clear so will try again as soon as I have a chance.

Your two other mystery palms are gorgeous, Jd! Really striking colour and stripes on mystery #1.

The ones I bought as Ayanishiki look totally different to yours, in fact they're much more like your new palm. The plot just thickens doesn't it??!!!

Maybe they should be renamed "puzzle palms"