Silver Palm ID please

[TimHopper]

Riding bikes with my son around the hood this morning, and came upon this great looking silver palm. Can someone ID it please. It is growing at an oceanfront home just a few blocks from my house. The photo does not really show the brilliant siver color. Tim

[Perito]

Brahea armata

[BS Man about Palms]

I concur..

[TimHopper]

Thanks guys. I don't see these around here. I wonder how it will take the heat and humidity of coastal Florida as it gets bigger?

[Perito]

Thanks guys. I don't see these around here. I wonder how it will take the heat and humidity of coastal Florida as it gets bigger?

Tim, it's looking really healthy. I don't think it would have made it to that size if it didn't like conditions. Perry

[Xenon]

There's a pair of Brahea armata in Galveston, TX (average summer low is 80*F, dewpoint is also about as high) that survived '89.

Jonathan

Edited October 9, 2011 by Xenon

[Jaydeebee]

It is a Brahea Armata. I have one myself although not as large as yours

[tank]

Tim,

I have a couple B. armatas and they don't hold quite as many leaves as the one you have pictured. While the small B. claras that I have, while not a valid species, definitely holds more leaves and handles the N. FL humidity better than B. armata.

Nice palm for North Florida regardless of what it is. Is it at a vacant property?

[tank]

Thanks guys. I don't see these around here. I wonder how it will take the heat and humidity of coastal Florida as it gets bigger?

Also, from my limited experience, the bigger they get, the better they handle the humidity. B. armatas "probably" do not like the excessively humid air layer at ground level.

[Tomw]

OK, I’m certainly not an expert but this looks like a Chamaerops humilis var. argentea. Am I off in left field on this?

Chamaerops humilis var. argentea

Edited October 11, 2011 by Tomw

[virtualpalm]

Tom, I thought the varietal name was "cerifera" rather than "argentea," but you are not off track. That is the silver form of C. humilis.

Jody

[tjwalters]

Tom, I thought the varietal name was "cerifera" rather than "argentea," but you are not off track. That is the silver form of C. humilis.

Jody

Wouldn't it be suckering by the time it reached that size? I have a much smaller one in a pot that produces loads of suckers.

[virtualpalm]

Tom, I thought the varietal name was "cerifera" rather than "argentea," but you are not off track. That is the silver form of C. humilis.

Jody

Wouldn't it be suckering by the time it reached that size? I have a much smaller one in a pot that produces loads of suckers.

Oh, that plant is suckering! And, like most things in the palm world, there is much variation in the level of suckering in this species and this form. Here is mine:

It has about 3' of trunk on the main stem and only 3 or 4 very small suckers at the base. I have seen others, though, that are so dense with suckers that you can't make out a primary stem.

Jody

[Darold Petty]

I agree that the palm in the first post is a Brahea species.

As to the nomemclature of Chamaerops, the term 'cerifera' is of recent horticultural usage and is not valid. It is properly Chamaerops humilis var. argentea Andre (1885) according to the Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.

[virtualpalm]

Thanks for the clarification, Darold. It is still referred to here in the FL nursey/landscaping industry as "cerifera."

Jody

[Darold Petty]

'Cerifera' is more common here in California, also !