Saribus rotundifolius in California?

[Geoff]

I just ran across this relatively large plant at the Huntington that is labeled as Livistona rotundifolia… hard for me to believe, but it does have huge, round leaves… could it be? Even Livistona carinensis is nearly impossible to grow at the Huntington… is this one easier?? Not sure how I have missed this plant… been to this part of the garden over 100 times so far…. just not that observant I guess.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Could it be a mislabeled L. saribus?

[Geoff]

It is among the group of 'Livistona' saribus and for years I guess I assumed it was the same… but it looks very different from the L saribus they have there, and it is indeed labeled quite clearly Livistona rotundifolia, even with comments on origin etc. So what it actually is I don't know, but seems a bit too happy to be rotunidifolia. But this individual is clearly very different from the saribus around it, in terms of leaf shape, thickness, color and peitolar spines.

[Sabal Steve]

I used to think that the two were synonymous as well, but from many of the pictures that I've seen, L. saribus has very deep leaf divisions, similar to S. mauritiformis. Of course, there are many distinctitions between L. saribus and S. mauritiformis, perhaps most notably the thorns on the petioles and the silver cast to the undersides of the leaves. In addition, there are at least 2 forms of L. saribus that I know of - a black petiole and a green petiole form. These 2 forms are said to display different cold hardiness.

L. saribus

S. mauritiformis

Edited October 5, 2014 by Sabal Steve

[Sabal Steve]

L. saribus trunk

L. saribus petioles

[quaman58]

I remember seeing some potted ones at one of Gary Woods sales. I figured he could grow it if anyone could, but he told me that they would only grow in his greenhouse. Having said that, the one pictured does have the look of a marginal palm in Southern California. Never tried one myself.

[mnorell]

Saribus rotundifolius has black spines. The yellow/orange spines on yours would indicate it is something else. Livistona saribus also has dark thorns for the most part and as others have pointed out, the leaves are quite different. I have a hunch you are looking at something in the Livistona speciosa/jenkinsiana complex with that big uninterrupted expanse of leaf. L. speciosa is listed as having orange-to-brown spines. Whatever it is, it sure has beautiful foliage! S. rotundifolius is indeed long established, through hard-won testing, as unable to cut it in SoCal.

[paulgila]

totally agree with michael. the palm in this thread looks like jenkinsiana, to me. S.rotundifolia is not supposed to grow here in socal by CW & i have certainly never seen a substantiated individual growing outdoors. i have a small one that i grew from seed collected near bogor botanical garden which i will try to grow in the garden when it gets bigger, but i am not sure it will survive long-term.

[Geoff]

Sounds good to me… L jenkinsiana is also pretty marginal here, but some manage to grow it… this plant is growing under a dense canopy of Livistona saribus so it perhaps just happened to planted in a great microclimate there.

[paulgila]

i am growing an L.jenkinsiana, Geoff. its slow but looks great