Closest coconut mimic

[Zeeth]

I think this is enough options. Feel free to chime in with any palms I forgot. It will be interesting to see where this goes! I have the option selected so you can select multiple palms if you can't decide on just 1.

[epicure3]

I guess Chamaerops is not an option.

I remember the first time I came to SoCal. I knew nothing about palms (yea, yea, yea, I still don't. Ha, Ha). The first palms I saw that remonded me of coconuts were Kentia palms. For the first few years, I still thought that's what they were.

[nomolos]

I think this is enough options. Feel free to chime in with any palms I forgot. It will be interesting to see where this goes! I have the option selected so you can select multiple palms if you can't decide on just 1.

Parajubea Coccoides is similar to coconut

[palmcurry]

Some pictures of each palm option posted on this thread will greatly aid the poll.

One thing about cocos is that most of them get tall(at least the common ones that most people remember) 50' + with thin arced trunks. Which of these palms dose that? Here in Cali not many...if any.

[Zeeth]

I think this is enough options. Feel free to chime in with any palms I forgot. It will be interesting to see where this goes! I have the option selected so you can select multiple palms if you can't decide on just 1.

Parajubea Coccoides is similar to coconut

Choice added!

[Zeeth]

Some pictures of each palm option posted on this thread will greatly aid the poll.

One thing about cocos is that most of them get tall(at least the common ones that most people remember) 50' + with thin arced trunks. Which of these palms dose that? Here in Cali not many...if any.

I'll add some pics tomorrow afternoon.

[The Palm Nut]

Beccariophoenix sp. windows

I have quite a large one of these, probably with some certainly the largest one south of the Qld border, but having said that I would love someone to prove me wrong. Without doubt visitor's of my garden see these as coconut palms.

Mike

[Tampa Scott]

This Butiagrus is a close Coconut mimic. I voted with B.madagascariensis.

Edited March 5, 2010 by Tampa Scott

[Zeeth]

This Butiagrus is a close Coconut mimic. I voted with B.madagascariensis.

Your Butiagrus is why I added it to the list, it's always fascinated me, and it's too bad it's not around anymore.

[John in Andalucia]

I've always thought Clinostigma do a very good impersonation, especially Clinostigma samoense.

[floridasun]

i voted b.alfredii, i love it when theres a coconut palm and a couple cars parked under it , its one of the most beutifull things ever, it shows how large the crowns are esspecialy when smaller.

[waykoolplantz]

B sp Windows sure looks coconutty to me

[MattyB]

I choose B. windows too.

[quaman58]

I had this question answered in reverse a couple years ago, while on vacation in Hawaii. I've had a Becarriophoenix "windows" growing for a few years & had become familiar with it's form. So as we're driving around Maui, upon seeing some non trunking cocos, the sub-conscious part of my brain was yelling out "oooh, look at all the Becarriophoenix!". A near dead match, when young, IMO. A bit heavier looking & less prone to "bending" when older though.

[quaman58]

Matty, where was that picture taken? Manambe Lavaka maybe? Good growing!

[MattyB]

Bret, no way. That pic was at Mike's, WayKoolPlantz, in Hollywood Fl. Probably the same Beccariophoenix that he posted above.

[DoomsDave]

I chose Jube-opsis because:

!. Its trunks curve. No curve, no coconut, sorry. Those Beccariphoenix, Parajubes, etc. are too straight; they're just poseurs.

2. It's got the coloration.

3. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's a multi, it looks like a grove of coconuts.

NONE of the "look alikes" have seeds anywhere near the c-nut, size-wise.

[quaman58]

Bret, no way. That pic was at Mike's, WayKoolPlantz, in Hollywood Fl. Probably the same Beccariophoenix that he posted above.

Oh. I thought maybe the El Nino rains had really kick started your jungle..

[MattyB]

yeah!!!!!

[Zeeth]

There's always something, and there never will be a perfect cold hardy mimic. This palm has too thick a trunk, this palm doesn't curve, this palm curves, but it grows too slowly and has persistent leaf bases, this palm has a trunk with growth rings too close, none of them have big enough seeds. There will always be something about it that gives it away for not being a coconut.

I personally think B. alfredii fits the bill. Sure B. sp. windows also looks like the kissing cousin to the coconut when young, but then it starts trunking, and the trunk is way too thick. B. alfredii has a thinner trunk. It's problems are that the trunk is too straight, the fruit is too small, and the canopy isn't circular enough. Since it's so new though, no one has any trunking individuals, so no one has attempted to let it grow to about 1 ft of trunk and dig it up and plant it on it's side so it'll develop the curve. I think it would work though, but then you've got the small fruit problem, but I don't think that it would be very noticeable once it's super tall, as places in Hawaii cut the fruit off all their coconuts, so I think the fruit size isn't a big problem. The next problem is that it holds it's fronds above the horizontal line, and doesn't have a circular canopy like the coconut does. There are varieties of coconuts that hold them in a similar fashion though, so the B. alfredii does have it's faults, but I think that they aren't too bad considering.

[Zeeth]

As promised, here are pics of said palms. Either habitat or cultivation.

B. alfredii

[Zeeth]

Attalea colenda

[Zeeth]

Syagrus amara

[Zeeth]

Howea forsteriana

[Zeeth]

Syagrus romanzoffiana

[Zeeth]

Voanioala gerardii

[Zeeth]

Jubaeopsis caffra

[Zeeth]

Beccariophoenix sp. windows

[Zeeth]

Beccariophoenix madagascariensis

[Zeeth]

Butiagrus

[Zeeth]

Parajubaea cocoides

[Zeeth]

Parajubaea torallyi

[Zeeth]

Parajubaea sunkha

[garrin]

With the mention of Howea forsteriana and leaning trunks, I have to mention a favorite palm I used to visit frequently in Alameda, CA, before a first freeze in MANY decades wiped it out (back in the '70's.) In front of a beautiful old home in Alameda was the tallest Howea I have ever seen, and it had a very gracefully leaning trunk going gradually from about 30 degrees above horizontal at ground level to staight up at the top. I could always drive by that house and think I was in the tropics. It also was an extremely healthy tree with very long fronds which helped. Too bad it was there in my life for only about three years. The were a lot of healthy howeas there in Alameda in those days.

[Zeeth]

Note, if any pictures appear as a box with a question mark, right click and chose to open in a new window or tab, and you will see the picture in this new window.

[Zeeth]

With the mention of Howea forsteriana and leaning trunks, I have to mention a favorite palm I used to visit frequently in Alameda, CA, before a first freeze in MANY decades wiped it out (back in the '70's.) In front of a beautiful old home in Alameda was the tallest Howea I have ever seen, and it had a very gracefully leaning trunk going gradually from about 30 degrees above horizontal at ground level to staight up at the top. I could always drive by that house and think I was in the tropics. It also was an extremely healthy tree with very long fronds which helped. Too bad it was there in my life for only about three years. The were a lot of healthy howeas there in Alameda in those days.

It must have been very nice to see! I like Howea forsteriana a lot, and it's my best performing indoor palm. I don't know why anyone in California would plant a queen instead, when Howeas are a nice option.

[floridasun]

great pics zeeth, i still think alfredii is the best though. last year i did collect a few sprouted coconuts on the indian river lagoon and i put them in pots and i dont think the soil was warm enough, so they dieded :( only one lived

Edited March 5, 2010 by floridasun

[Zeeth]

great pics zeeth, i still think alfredii is the best though. last year i did collect a few sprouted coconuts on the indian river lagoon and i put them in pots and i dont think the soil was warm enough, so they dieded :( only one lived

Hmm, that's interesting. Let me know next time you try out coconuts and I can help you ensure their survival.

I agree about B. alfredii. I've got enough seed that I want to do some distribution to friends and family this spring. Also, I want to plant some along the banks of the Manatee river. They grow along river in habitat, so It'll be interesting to see how they would do. I'll probably keep 20 or 30 plants for the yard. I do want to try a B. sp. windows too though, and a Voanioala if i can ever get ahold of one.

[Tyrone]

I think Beccariophoenix in any form wins this poll. Justifiably so as well. Only a trained eye can actually tell them apart from a true coconut. That's why I'm growing a heap of them especially B alfredii. I can't wait for them to be a much sought after poolside planting that looks exactly like the coconut. Coconuts really can't be grown down here without serious help from the owner. B alfredii will just soak up the conditions and smile at our weather.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Got Palms]

This is as close i can come up with here in so.cal (Howea forsteriana )