Dypsis malcomberi

[jdapalms]

Here are some updated pictures of my Dypsis malcomberi?

[jdapalms]

A few more.

[LJG]

Great palm. It has grown a lot.

[Matt in SD]

Awesome Jerry! I'll try to get a pic of mine tomorrow. A lot smaller, but one of the bigger ones in SoCal (biggest I've seen at least). I got it from you about 5 years ago as a 1g and it's starting to grow pretty fast for a Dypsis now. Seems to handle winters here without blinking. I can't wait till mine grows up.

Matt

[BS Man about Palms]

THANK YOU JERRY!!

More proof to my eyes that this palm is the REAL Dypsis pilulifera!!!!! (not the Bo-orange crush palm)

But this is all my 2 cents worth... This palm much more closely matches the description in POM.

And O yes, I'm glad I have 2 or 3 of these I got from you... My biggest is a happy 5 gal size... They are beautiful.

[Gtlevine]

Nice palm, it looks a lot like Dypsis manajarensis.

[BS Man about Palms]

I'm pretty sure this is one. It was labeled as D. tsaravosira from Jerry, but I know for a short time they labeled them that way, then went back to D malcolmberi... per Dan.

And I should correct, this is in a 3 gal pot..

Looking forward to others posted...

PS- this one has sat outside on the Lemur pot all summer and winter... looks happy.

[BS Man about Palms]

Nice palm, it looks a lot like Dypsis manajarensis.

The mealybug palm? I don't see that...

To me it looks like a cross between the Bo orange crush and the highland mealybug....

[Dypsisdean]

Nice palm, it looks a lot like Dypsis manajarensis.

The mealybug palm? I don't see that...

To me it looks like a cross between the Bo orange crush and the highland mealybug....

I agree Bill. I don't see how that could be confused with Mardy's palm.

[MattyB]

So, this one looks like Orange Crush when young, but has no ramenta? Matt, Bill, is that right?

[BS Man about Palms]

So, this one looks like Orange Crush when young, but has no ramenta? Matt, Bill, is that right?

Yes. Plus when the leaves reach 18" or so you can see a little tomentum which you don't on the orange crush..

[edric]

Sure wish I knew what the seeds looked like, Ed

[Gtlevine]

Here is a nice Manajarensis in habitat. See how different this one looks than Mardy Darians. Jerry's may turn out to be this, or maybe not, but the markings are exactly the same on both palms.

[BS Man about Palms]

Gary. You may need to start carrying glasses like I do...

[LJG]

Gary, I think this is why Jerry thinks his might be the real D. malcomberi. Remember, straight from POM on Manajarensis - "scales are white and waxy, with scalloped edges, and are unique within the genus". Also, it seems like this plant has no real issues with the cool winters here in SoCal as many have this one from Jerry growing. That leads me to believe it could be the real D. malcomberi as a good guess since it is from so far south.

Do you have any pictures of D. malcomberi in habitat?

[BS Man about Palms]

Yep. I love the Dypsis genus. Len's plate has it right...

[edric]

Gary, I think this is why Jerry thinks his might be the real D. malcomberi. Remember, straight from POM on Manajarensis - "scales are white and waxy, with scalloped edges, and are unique within the genus". Also, it seems like this plant has no real issues with the cool winters here in SoCal as many have this one from Jerry growing. That leads me to believe it could be the real D. malcomberi as a good guess since it is from so far south.

Do you have any pictures of D. malcomberi in habitat?

Len, Matt, I guess the last time I posted this link, it was malfunctioning, because it said no taxon, well now it shows there is, and photos, go figure, ( Matt accept my apologies, I should have known better than to doubt your word )Ed http://palmweb.org/?q=cdm_dataportal/taxon/0d7da9ad-699d-4399-a520-30ebc153e40e/images

[Matt in SD]

Not that this is a whole lot of support for this being the real D malcomberi, but I got several seedlings a few years ago from Floribunda a Dypsis malcomberi, and they are looking more and more like they will be the same as the palm in Jerry's photos. So it seems likely another batch of "Dypsis malcomberi" came out of Madagascar that is this palm. They definitely started from a very small seed as they were incredibly small when I got them (with 1-2 leaves), which is also consistent with D malcomberi.

What always made me feel that this palm was not malcomberi was the regular leaflets. But the description in POM is actually sort of contradictory on the leaflet arrangement. It says that leaves are "plumose", yet also says they are "in groups of 2-8 or only slightly irregular...leaflets fanned to almost in one plane". So the latter part does not necessarily sound so plumose to me. Also, there are other Dypsis that start out with completely regular leaflets, and all of a sudden switch to plumose, grouped leaflets after they start trunking (Dypsis hovomantsina seems to do this).

Matt

[Gtlevine]

Bill, take your glasses off they are clouding your vision.

Here is what I'm saying: I have a close up of the palm in my photo and the scaling is identical to Jerry's palm. The palm I have shown above is from Ronamafana, Malcomberii comes from further south. I was down south around Andahalena and saw true Malcomberii in habitat and it was an ugly palm that does not look like Manajarensis or Jerry's palm and it fits the description in POM. Jerry's palm right now does not resemble Malcomberii I saw, but it does resemble some of the Manajarensis although not typical. The regular leaflets are not typical at all for Manajarensis. But I have learned through the years that these dypsis keep changing until maturity, they can start off with regular leaflets then change to plumose type leaves. Jerry's palm is gorgeous and well taken care of, not exposed to the torture these palms experience in habitat. It's like the boy in the plastic bubble, only it's the palm in the plastic bubble, thats how these palms look in the Hawaii gardens. So all i'm saying is lets see what Jerry's palm looks like in five years with some nice trunk before naming it.

Gary

[Matt in SD]

Gary,

Check out the photos of malcomberi on the link that Ed posted above. You may have to click D malcomberi on the left panel to get it to come up (it said invalid species on the direct link from Ed). The D malcomberi in those photos ( is a nice looking palm from Bill Baker at Kew, so very likely correct ID). As you said, Dypsis change, so it's too early to bother arguing about what Jerry's palm is yet.

Matt

[MattyB]

I see some white scales, but I don't see any scalloped edges like the one with mealy looking scales and colorful petioles.

[LJG]

I can never get Ed's link to work, even clicking left.

[edric]

Gary, I think this is why Jerry thinks his might be the real D. malcomberi. Remember, straight from POM on Manajarensis - "scales are white and waxy, with scalloped edges, and are unique within the genus". Also, it seems like this plant has no real issues with the cool winters here in SoCal as many have this one from Jerry growing. That leads me to believe it could be the real D. malcomberi as a good guess since it is from so far south.

Do you have any pictures of D. malcomberi in habitat?

Len, Matt, I guess the last time I posted this link, it was malfunctioning, because it said no taxon, well now it shows there is, and photos, go figure, ( Matt accept my apologies, I should have known better than to doubt your word )Ed http://palmweb.org/?q=cdm_dataportal/taxon/0d7da9ad-699d-4399-a520-30ebc153e40e/images'>http://palmweb.org/?q=cdm_dataportal/taxon/0d7da9ad-699d-4399-a520-30ebc153e40e/images

TEST http://palmweb.org/

[edric]

Gary, I think this is why Jerry thinks his might be the real D. malcomberi. Remember, straight from POM on Manajarensis - "scales are white and waxy, with scalloped edges, and are unique within the genus". Also, it seems like this plant has no real issues with the cool winters here in SoCal as many have this one from Jerry growing. That leads me to believe it could be the real D. malcomberi as a good guess since it is from so far south.

Do you have any pictures of D. malcomberi in habitat?

Len, Matt, I guess the last time I posted this link, it was malfunctioning, because it said no taxon, well now it shows there is, and photos, go figure, ( Matt accept my apologies, I should have known better than to doubt your word )Ed http://palmweb.org/?q=cdm_dataportal/taxon/0d7da9ad-699d-4399-a520-30ebc153e40e/images'>http://palmweb.org/?q=cdm_dataportal/taxon/0d7da9ad-699d-4399-a520-30ebc153e40e/images

TEST http://palmweb.org/

Here ya go Len, start with home page, and go to Dypsis, Ed

[MattyB]

Well this Dypsis pilulifera pic from Ed's website

Sure looks a lot like Jerry's palm in the scale department.

Dypsis manajarensis scales look different than these.

[BS Man about Palms]

OK, I'll just "scale back" to loving Dypsis..

[Dypsisdean]

I can never get Ed's link to work, even clicking left.

I can't get it to work either. The site says it works better with browsers other than IE. But I tried everything, and no cigar.

Edit: After clicking back and forth on the tabs for D. mal I finally got the photos to appear. There seems to be a "bug" on that page. But it wasn't a detailed enough pic to determine anything. However, it certainly doesn't look like an "ugly" palm to me.

[Dypsisdean]

I was down south around Andahalena and saw true Malcomberii in habitat and it was an ugly palm that does not look like Manajarensis

Gary

If that is so Gary - why all this confusion through the years between D. man and the D. mal? Everyone makes it sound like they are easily confused.

[Dypsisdean]

Here is a pic of what IMO has to be D. man according to JD with the white scales unique to this species. And it is certainly a different palm than Jerry's, with the leaflets becoming grouped and plumose at a very young age - along with the overall appearance. And I believe this to be the same palm as Mardy's Mealy, as I remember his at this age. As JD stated in another recent thread. "It was not premature to state in POM that mealy bug scales are confined to mananjarensis. As far as we know from recent material, it is still true to say so."

Excuse the deformed leaves. It got buried under a mud flow and has now punched through. That's a five gal. for scale.

[BS Man about Palms]

I agree Dean.. thats what I think(see) when I hear Dypsis mananjarensis... VERY different to Jerrys palm, especially in growth habits!

I will say that this thread has prompted me to plant mine near my orange crush out front to compare side to side..

[Dypsisdean]

For what it's worth, I found this pic of Mardy's Mealy on Jungle Music

[palmcurry]

JDA makes an appearance, posts a few pics and the place fires up into a Dypsis disco!!

All I know is that palm rocks and I want one Dypsis malcomberi, that is.

[Gtlevine]

Ok Sanford, what about Dennis Willoughby Dypsis Mananjarensis with the flat plane leaves? It is a clone of Jerry's palm, markings and all. Are you backstepping on that palm identification? Maybe that is not Mananjarensis but based on habitat Malcomberii it sure does not look like those.

Dean, I hate to call a palm ugly, but just my opinion when I saw the habitat Malcomberii, I would not put one in my yard if you paid me. Queen palms look like Lipstick palms in comparison.

Gary

[Dypsisdean]

Dean, I hate to call a palm ugly, but just my opinion when I saw the habitat Malcomberii, I would not put one in my yard if you paid me. Queen palms look like Lipstick palms in comparison.

Gary

Gary,

Maybe you caught a marginal habitat, or drought conditions, but this palm doesn't look ugly to me.

Note: this a D. mal pic from the http:/palmweb.org website, and is copyrighted by John Dransfield and Kew Gardens (I only took the liberties to reproduce it here due to the difficulties at the moment of viewing it online)

[Gtlevine]

Dean and others, do you notice how the leaves in Dean's Malcomberii pic are plumose??? quite different from Jerry's palm, isn't it?

[LJG]

Gary, it seems a few Dypsis start like this and change to plumose as they age. I have two Dypsis doing it right now. I have no idea what the palm is, just hoping it grows here.

[Gtlevine]

Exactly Len, as I indicated in my post refering to habitat Manajarensis. I still think Jerry's palm may be Piulifera or something else, just too pretty for Malcomberii.

[BS Man about Palms]

An update here... I was looking at most of mine like this today... I think the one I pictured earlier IS a "orange crush", etc. I noticed I can spot the little scales on two in my greenhouse... and I don't see the spots on the pictured one..

In the greenhouse, One has the "dypsis malcomberi" tag it it from Jerry... Sadly, they are smaller, but I'm still thinking of planting my large one gallon out.....

[Moose]

I'm pretty sure this is one. It was labeled as D. tsaravosira from Jerry, but I know for a short time they labeled them that way, then went back to D malcolmberi... per Dan.

jdamalcjan11 001.jpg

And I should correct, this is in a 3 gal pot..

jdamalcjan11 002.jpg

Looking forward to others posted...

PS- this one has sat outside on the Lemur pot all summer and winter... looks happy.

Bill - has the growth rate increased on these? How about some updated photos?

[Pedro 65]

"Bump", would Love to see an update on yr Dypsis pls Jerry and some feedback re  D/caryum.

If not, I will send Tom after ya :)  ( Tom N Jerry cartoon )

Thanks in advance as we have to keep PTalk "Flowing"

Pete  :)