Voanioala Gerardii

[Got Palms]

I was given this palm by a special friend (Sterling Calahan) as a gift apparently very rare and beautiful palm Thank You Sterling everybody can use a friend like you!

[realarch]

Thoughtful and nice gift! You must be a good friend as well.

[Walter John]

Sterling gift I must say.

Don't see these anymore here, only saw them for a short time too, a very special palm indeed.

[TikiRick]

Does anyone have a large specimen of this species growing? I am not certain as to just how big this gets......or whether or not it will do well here in South Florida.

[hanapalms]

Does anyone have a large specimen of this species growing? I am not certain as to just how big this gets......or whether or not it will do well here in South Florida.

I have some potted seedlings and one in the ground. Mine are somewhat older than the one you have. Their native habitat is at 1200 feet elevation on Madagascar, they can probably handle mild to moderate cold. Full grown they should look like a large coconut but stiff with darker green leaves. Not many left in the wild. Have not seen any photos of grown specimen.

[LJG]

Super slow palm and probably not a long term plant in the ground for SoCal for most people. I know few good growers that have tried in some great microclimates and the plants never look healthy. They did fine in pots, but once planted, they died. Also, not sure what "moderate cold" is, but this plant comes from the rainforest on the Masoala Peninsula. Not a lot of stuff from their does well here in SoCal. I wish it did.

I am growing mine up as big as possible in a pot in the greenhouse. Maybe in 10 years I will plant it out and see what happens

[BS Man about Palms]

Part of the ex-Clark stock goes to a good home...

Great friend you have there!!

[hanapalms]

Does anyone have a large specimen of this species growing? I am not certain as to just how big this gets......or whether or not it will do well here in South Florida.

I have some potted seedlings and one in the ground. Mine are somewhat older than the one you have. Their native habitat is at 1200 feet elevation on Madagascar, they can probably handle mild to moderate cold. Full grown they should look like a large coconut but stiff with darker green leaves. Not many left in the wild. Have not seen any photos of grown specimen.

These are my two Voaniola gerardii. I went through my logs to see when I got the seeds, but came up empty. It had to have been around 2005 or earlier. Seems they are quite slow growing.

[Zeeth]

Slow growing indeed. Maybe 2 to 3 leaves per year

[rozpalm]

Mine has been in the ground for two years now. I think its on its third or forth leaf since planting. Apparently its cold tolerant becuase I totally forgot about it over the winter and it went the entire time with no protection. It shows no signs of damage, so it would appear the 32deg does not harm this palm.

[Zeeth]

Mine has been in the ground for two years now. I think its on its third or forth leaf since planting. Apparently its cold tolerant becuase I totally forgot about it over the winter and it went the entire time with no protection. It shows no signs of damage, so it would appear the 32deg does not harm this palm.

PiousPalms says that the one I bought from him went through 29F; it shows no sign that it even went through a winter at all

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Low temp capability confirmed... I had half a dozen or so that breezed thru temperatures that froze the water in my irrigation system and burst my plumbing seals! I have 2 left I recently potted up into 5 gallon buckets. They are happy to stretch out their roots. I'm hoping for a speed up in growth by the end of the summer. I think this is one of those plants that turns into a relative rocketship once it trunks.

[Zeeth]

Low temp capability confirmed... I had half a dozen or so that breezed thru temperatures that froze the water in my irrigation system and burst my plumbing seals! I have 2 left I recently potted up into 5 gallon buckets. They are happy to stretch out their roots. I'm hoping for a speed up in growth by the end of the summer. I think this is one of those plants that turns into a relative rocketship once it trunks.

Oh god, I hope so. Both of mine are growing fine. The smaller one went through shock and lost all but 1 leaf, but the new spear is growing at about the speed that my nails grow While the larger one is a bit faster, the leaf that was emerging when I got it has maybe a month to go before it has fully emerged. The small one is in the original treepot, while the large one is planted into a 7 gallon bucket. It's got a ton of drainage holes, and is planted in 50% perlite and 50% jungle growth professional growers mix. I give it about 2 gallons of water a day, and it seems to be pretty happy. It's in all day shade, as I'm too afraid to give it any sun. It grows like that in the wild though, so I'm not worried.

[Phil]

Group,

Voanioala g. are indeed slow. Those seen below are representative of our stock and are about 5 to 6 years old. Seeds may never be again available unless domestic seeds are produced (decades off). We had a batch of seedlings that survived temps estimated to be above 130 degrees F. when we had a mat fire. They fell into a heap of molten plastic and survived; not one died! So, heat tolerance is a unique characteristic of this rare species. They love being in our hot cycad greenhouse in full sun. See the seed (shown below), which really helps to ID this species when young. They are huge. I suspect Len lost his more to cultural conditions than the tranplant itself. But, they have prominent roots so any snapped big roots might do them in.

Phil

[Zeeth]

I think the seed are one of the coolest things about this palm. They are huge and really remind me of a coconut, or an ancestor of the coconut. I keep this one in my room as decoration

[peachy]

Until now I had never heard of these palms....but cold hardy and heat hardy means I have to get some. The search is on !!!!!

Peachy

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Everyone else was posting so I wanted to show off some of most prized palms...

These got potted up early this spring, a couple weeks after you got your palms Zeeth.

[palmsOrl]

Those are looking good William. What was your ultimate low this past winter?

-Michael

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Kinda put it behind me, lost lots of stuff and am choosing to ignore the pain... (Grow Salaccas GROW!)

Due to the kind of freeze and my super low elevation I recall bottoming out at 28.5-29.5F

[Lowey]

Does anyone have a large specimen of this species growing? I am not certain as to just how big this gets......or whether or not it will do well here in South Florida.

Massive feather palm, up to 20m tall, closely resembling a coconut palm. It has up to 70 stiff, waxy green leaflets on each side of the petiole. Leaves up to 5m long. It produces large bunches of reddish brown fruit. One feature of this palm is the large number of chromosomes its cells contain, at around 600 this is the largest number ever recorded for a monocotyledon.

General:

This species is thought perhaps to have been the ancestor of the coconut that we know today. Even though the nut only measures about 5cm x 7cm and weighs approximately 100 - 120 grams, the close relationship with the modern coconut, Cocos nucifera , can be observed in the similarities of the arrangement of the inflorescences and in the physical structure of the fruits (nuts).

[JASON M]

Hmm, I wonder what it will look like when it gets bigger!

[Mandrew968]

Does anyone have a large specimen of this species growing? I am not certain as to just how big this gets......or whether or not it will do well here in South Florida.

Massive feather palm, up to 20m tall, closely resembling a coconut palm. It has up to 70 stiff, waxy green leaflets on each side of the petiole. Leaves up to 5m long. It produces large bunches of reddish brown fruit. One feature of this palm is the large number of chromosomes its cells contain, at around 600 this is the largest number ever recorded for a monocotyledon.

General:

This species is thought perhaps to have been the ancestor of the coconut that we know today. Even though the nut only measures about 5cm x 7cm and weighs approximately 100 - 120 grams, the close relationship with the modern coconut, Cocos nucifera , can be observed in the similarities of the arrangement of the inflorescences and in the physical structure of the fruits (nuts).

Since the most current research has yielded the origin of the coconut to be of the new world, this palm from Madagascar is likely not the ancestor of the coconut, but they are both cocosoids and probably SHARE a common ancestor.

[Bill Austin]

I got this one from a man that came by my nursery to buy some palms ,he brought this one along to trade . I traded a areca macrocalyx red for it,may be three years ago. I but in the ground about four months ago doing really well.

[realarch]

Finally found this photo I took at the Sullivan garden about 18 months ago and thought I'd post it. It's a beauty.

[Dr. George]

Finally found this photo I took at the Sullivan garden about 18 months ago and thought I'd post it. It's a beauty.

Hey Tim - Thanks for the pic - I agree with all about the slow growth rate - any idea how old this one is? - gmp

[Zeeth]

Thanks for the picture. I wonder if it will be any bigger in the 18 months since the picture was taken. I wonder if they ever speed up their growth rate, because if they grow as slow as they do when young, it'll be a while before we see any seeding in cultivation. Coupled with the fact that seeds are now illegal to export, in 10 or 20 years this species will cost a whole lot of money.

[LJG]

I was given this palm by a special friend (Sterling Calahan) as a gift apparently very rare and beautiful palm Thank You Sterling everybody can use a friend like you!

Did you ever plant this or is it still in the pot?

[Got Palms]

I was given this palm by a special friend (Sterling Calahan) as a gift apparently very rare and beautiful palm Thank You Sterling everybody can use a friend like you!

Did you ever plant this or is it still in the pot?

Len it was planted in ground the day after i posted, unprotected and doing ok very slow though 1 frond per year hopefully it will grow faster with time, at work til friday will post a recent pic when i get home!

[Shon]

That Sullivan picture is awesome thanks for posting. Anyone got an age to that palm?

[sarasota alex]

Awesome!

[Jeff Searle]

Rare as hen's teeth.....

[Tyrone]

I think this is one palm I honestly will never get the opportunity to grow, although I'm sure it would grow here. Trouble is with export on the seed banned, the future of the species now depends on no body cutting the parent trees down. As if that will happen just because they're in a protected area. It's sad to say but this species is doomed to extinction. CITES has helped it become extinct.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Hilo Jason]

I thought I would bump this thread as I just bought one of these today and have been looking into ideas of where in my yard to plant it. Would love to hear updates on anyone growing these in California, or a similar climate.

[LJG]

Jason, I think this plant is destined to live its life under full canopy here in SoCal to look its best. Any that I have seen that get sun look yellow and bad. Those in full shade look great. It is a rediculously slow growing palm.

[Walter John]

It's available again ? Where seeds from ?

[Hilo Jason]

Len - thanks for the info about that. I was thinking about planting it in a sunny spot, but will not put it under one of my Jacaranda's so it will always have the canopy.

Wal - The guy I bought this from said he has had it for 3 years or so, so it's not a new one at all. As far as I know, the seeds are still not allowed to be exported.

[realarch]

Yup, a pretty slow grow, but growing! This one has been in the ground for about 14 months from a 5 gal.

Always pushing a new spear and each successive leaf gets bigger which is what one hopes for.

It's not as slow as Masoala madagascarensis though, but they both plug along.

[Pedro 65]

Yup, a pretty slow grow, but growing! This one has been in the ground for about 14 months from a 5 gal.

Always pushing a new spear and each successive leaf gets bigger which is what one hopes for.

It's not as slow as Masoala madagascarensis though, but they both plug along.

Tim, after seeing yours and Bills in "full sun" and the largest 1 in cultivation in "full sun" at the Sullivan Garden ( post 24 WOW), mine needs more sun, its in too much shade, very moist area but too shady. It would be too risky digging it up, I will have to cut out canopy above, OR since its in heavy ground, has anyone dug up and transplanted one of their Voanioala to a sunnier spot?

Bill A, wow, yours has grown rapidly (post23) with the recent pic in your mix plate thread which is 2 or 3 times the size now.

All you Big Islanders are "fast palm growers"

[Jeff Searle]

Ahh, come on, that's not the biggest in cultivation, THIS might be the biggest Voanioala in cultivation!

[LJG]

Maybe just me but not the best looking palm as adult.