Brahea 'Super Silver' in habitad

[KennyRE317]

it's funny this topic got bumped because it always comes back up in searches and I've been thinking about planting one of mine out in an area that gets full sun in the winter, full sun in the summer but I'm not sure how wide they'll ultimate get in the trunk region

[Explorer]

P.S.

Magnolia dealbata is closely related to Magnolia macrophylla from the Eastern U.S.

Alexander

Excellent.........didn't know about this Magnolia....need to add one to the yard, despite the ginormous leaf litter. Maybe guerrilla plant on the other side of the fence.

Well you get a very good edemic Magnolia trhere in Florida. Magnolia ashei, wich flowers on an early age. I have seen it in flower last April in Torreya State Park. Its a subspecies of Magnolia macrophylla and endemic to Northern Florida. Also lots of needlepalm there. Well you get nice flora anyway in that part of the World! Well those M. ashei grow almost in your backyard. And also some splendid Sarracenias in your area like S. leucophylla and S. flava rugelii!

Alexander

Edited December 29, 2013 by Explorer

[_Keith]

Very cool. Seeing them in that terrain makes me think I'm babying mine to much.

You probably are, but then again, I doubt you want to wait as long as it probably took those to grow to a decent size.

[Explorer]

My 4 Brahea Super Silver are still green. I have grown them from seeds I did collect 10 years ago in Mexico. But mine are in pot and also the fact that I grow them at 52 degrees latitude north could be a reason for the absence of any blue collor. But in warmer sunnier parts of the World like California or Southern Europe it would take less long.

Alexander

They start out green and turn to silver with more maturity. From what I can tell it seems to be an adaptation to emergent canopy - they are green when small to grow fast in lower light and turn silver when more mature and more exposed to the elements. They might stay greener longer in more shadier exposure, but that's not been my experience here at 36N.

Well about that canopy, Brahea Super Silver grows in an very open arid dessert habitat with plants like Agave stricta, some cacti and a few bushes here and there. So not really a canopy. See also the habitat pictures here. So thatn canopy can not be the reason.

Alexander

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

My 4 Brahea Super Silver are still green. I have grown them from seeds I did collect 10 years ago in Mexico. But mine are in pot and also the fact that I grow them at 52 degrees latitude north could be a reason for the absence of any blue collor. But in warmer sunnier parts of the World like California or Southern Europe it would take less long.

Alexander

They start out green and turn to silver with more maturity. From what I can tell it seems to be an adaptation to emergent canopy - they are green when small to grow fast in lower light and turn silver when more mature and more exposed to the elements. They might stay greener longer in more shadier exposure, but that's not been my experience here at 36N.

Well about that canopy, Brahea Super Silver grows in an very open arid dessert habitat with plants like Agave stricta, some cacti and a few bushes here and there. So not really a canopy. See also the habitat pictures here. So thatn canopy can not be the reason.

Alexander

When I see the habitat pictures above, I see lots of competition from other specimens and from other vegetation. Perhaps the word canopy is not quite appropriate. The principle is the same, a green plant has access to more photosynthesis to get established. Near the ground in the desert the plants can afford it. Hence many Brahea don't develop their glaucous parts until more mature.

[Explorer]

I had a close look at my 4 B. super silver here. At least one shows a bit of glaucus on its last leave. But maybe also because last summer was a good warm and sunny one.

Alexander

[Al in Kona]

Here's my Brahea 'Super Silver' growing in upslope south Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. Currently measures about 7.6 cm (2.5 ft.) tall and just as wide. Mostly growing on its own although I did add supplemental water a few times when we had an extended dry period and has never been fertilized. It probably was not necessary though as I understand this palm when established is very drought tolerant. It seems to becoming more glaucus as it gets bigger. The underside of the leaf is very silver as you can see in the photo. I really like this people friendly (smooth thin thorn less petioles) glaucus palm.

[KennyRE317]

I looked at my largest and the spear that's opening looks like it has a bit of color along the ridges, but we'll see when it opens completely

[SeaDouble]

How does the speed of super silver compare to other Brahea? Slow like armata? Fast like clara? Somewhere in-between?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

How does the speed of super silver compare to other Brahea? Slow like armata? Fast like clara? Somewhere in-between?

This palm is considerably faster in my climate than any other brahea I have. it also seems to have a cooler growing point. It seems to grow fastest with cool nights in the 45-55F range and warm days 75-95F. In contrast, armata doesn't grow much in the Winter months.

[Stevetoad]

This is a fast brahea for me. Mine has really taken off. Almost solid silver now too. It's been putting out two leaves at a time now too.

[SeaDouble]

Thanks guys. Thst is exactly what I wanted to hear. Stevetoad, I am especially happy to hear that yours is doing well since I am also in Santee. I would love to chat with you sometime about what has done well for you, and also not so well here in Santee since I am just getting started into palms.

[Explorer]

I have also 4 Brahea Super Silver here grown from seeds I collected more then 10 years ago in Mexico. One question, does this palms still not have a second official name? It should have been described scientifically somewhere. I have seen it even growing along a bussy autopista from Oaxaca to Puebla. And the first ones I saw just after entering the state of Puebla at the right side of the road growing among high cacti and Beaucarnea gracilis. It was from a bus I saw them. And a few days later in habitat above Zapotitlan las Salinas. Brahea Super Silver was also planted in Tehucan. So such a palm must have been described allready and given a proper scientific name.

Here a link to a website where Brahea Super Silver is described as Brahea nitida by a certain Stacey A. Weller. It is in that same area where I have seen them and where I took pictures of it. In that area you can also find Brahea dulcis wich is a differend species. There are 4 pictures of Brahea Super Silver at this website. And its the same Brahea I took pictures of and from wich I have collected some seeds in 2003. And from those seeds I have here 4 specimems with no spines on the stalks. Maybe Brahea Super Silver is just a subspecies from a variable Brahea nitida. But I know to little from Brahea to be certain about that. And here in The Netherlands we do not have all kinds of Braheas arround us as for example in Southern California.

IREKANI, Instituto de Biología - UNAM

unibio.unam.mx/irekani/handle/123456789/12437?proyecto=Irekani

Alexander

Edited June 7, 2014 by Explorer

[Explorer]

Here another Brahea nitida from Oaxaca. It seems to grow in a less arid area and has less glaucus leaves. But stil the same habitus and same type of stif fronds. Maybe the Brahea Super Silver is just an ecotype of very arid dessert habitats, or a subspecies. Similair as with Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera from Marokko where it grows in a more arid habitat then the normal Chamaerops humilis. And thus the drier the area, the more silver they are. Just a local genetic adaptation to specific enviromental conditions.

www.plantsystematics.org/imgs/lkelly/r/Arecaceae_Brahea_nitida_4890.html

About the nearby town where I saw Brahea Super Silver, its not Zapotitlan las Salinas but Zapotitlan Salinas. For those whom want to see it in habitat you just go up a mountain from that town. There is also a botanical garden with the native flora from that area in town.

Alexander

Edited June 7, 2014 by Explorer

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I didn't see Alexander's latest comments in this thread, interesting. Alexander. I thought the same as you for a while, but now that I've had a chance to grow the super silver and nitida side by side for a while both as small seedlings and as bigger >15 gallon plants, I see some striking differences between the two. I no longer believe that super silver is a variation of nitida, it's a different species.

As a small seedling, I can tell nitida apart from super silver well before they develop the glaucous color. Super silver has thick leaves to the touch, whereas nitida leaves are papery thin. When they get bigger, nitida leaves remain flatter, less pleated and wider. Super silver leaves are narrower, more upright and definitely more pleated.

There is no in between, it's either one or the other. The only variation is the stage at which the leaves go glaucous on both nitida and super silver. Nitida goes glaucous on the leaf undersides and on the petioles, but it's a different type of glaucous than the super silver, it's much more transparent.

I've purchased several green super silver that were greenhouse grown, and as soon as they get exposed to my dry outdoor climate, the subsequent leaves already develop the glaucous covering. I have fast draining soil that dries quickly. All of my super silvers get a degree of drought stress in my garden. I suspect that these need a certain level of water stress to accelerate the appearance of the glaucous covering. I get this even in partly shaded specimens. I bet you could trigger that at 52N by withholding a little water and putting them against a south facing wall where it gets hotter and drier.

It appears that once they morph to silver they don't revert to green. So it might be worth to even enclose them in a temporary dry greenhouse to bring moisture levels down and temperatures up.

[Geoff]

Visted Jeff Chemnick yesterday... he had some nice Brahea Silvers... First shot is of a juvenile.. totally green and uninteresting

But these are shots of a few older individuals.. note the striking lack of petiolar teeth.

[trioderob]

bump for a "killer" thread

[Danilopez89]

I like them. Those habitat photos are super! I saw nitidia for sale at a local nursery yesterday, I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled for a super silver now.

[Josh-O]

its a very blue palm when they mature.

The trunks are also very cool looking.

Its rare to see them this big anywhere

[Phoenikakias]

Please put a candle beside Explorer's avatar, rip.