Key West blooming Talipot Palm (Corypha umbraculifera)

[robsp2000]

Don't know if this has been posted yet, put here are a couple photos I saw of a blooming Talipot Palm on my walk today. From wikipedia:

"The talipot palm bears the largest inflorescence of any plant, 6-8 m (20-26 ft) long, consisting of one to several million small flowers borne on a branched stalk that forms at the top of the trunk.......The talipot palm is monocarpic, flowering only once, when it is 30 to 80 years old. It takes about a year for the fruit to mature, producing thousands of round, yellow-green fruit 3-4 cm (1.2-1.6 in) in diameter, each containing a single seed. The plant dies after fruiting."

Edited January 9, 2015 by robsp2000

[Alicehunter2000]

That's cool looking...to bad its on its way out........you gonna be collecting some seed?....would hate to have to remove that monster after it dies.

[DoomsDave]

They will grow here in Cali, at least in San Diego.

Hope they're easier to cut than Caryotas.

dave

[Jim in Los Altos]

So beautiful yet sad at the same time. Every time I look at my Caryota palms, I wonder "when." I've already had one C. urens cut down as it flowered at the age of only 15 years. It came down fast though. Each of the several three foot sections of trunk took my trusty tree guy no more than a minute or two to chain saw through and the chain was still sharp after this! I'm through planting monocarpic species. I want my palms to outlive me.

[robsp2000]

That's cool looking...to bad its on its way out........you gonna be collecting some seed?....would hate to have to remove that monster after it dies.

I will be scavenging for some seeds. The trunk on this thing is MASSIVE.

[Josh-O]

its a sad thing to witness for sure. Are you going to collect some seed? These are a couple in Coastal San Diego growing. I have a 1 gal that recently saw temps at 30-31F and didn't even blink. We should be trying this palm here in SD

[Jeff Searle]

Hi Rob,

Do you know the homeowner? I believe it's a house that I've been to once many years ago and that the woman is good friends with Nancy Forrester and Peter Whalen.

[Sabal Steve]

its a sad thing to witness for sure. Are you going to collect some seed? These are a couple in Coastal San Diego growing. I have a 1 gal that recently saw temps at 30-31F and didn't even blink. We should be trying this palm here in SD

Are there ones of size outside of the one in Bird Rock?

[Moose]

Hi Rob,

Do you know the homeowner? I believe it's a house that I've been to once many years ago and that the woman is good friends with Nancy Forrester and Peter Whalen.

Jeff - I contacted Tim and told him of this thread. He said its around South Street and Duncan. Its so massive that when you drive by you actually miss it since most folks don't look way up when driving.

According to Henderson in Palms of Southern Asia the trunk achieves a diameter of 100 cm. They are not a fast palm, taking many years to start trunking. I suspect the wood would be very hard and quite the task to be removed. If it were my palm I'd leave the trunk after its demise and let wildlife inhabit it. Eventually gravity will win but it would take many years.

[robsp2000]

It's on the corner of Thompson and Washington St. I don't know the owner. The paper wrote a small article about the tree in the paper last fall. We took a drive to go see it and drove past it a couple times because it was so tall. The trunk is huge.

[Mandrew968]

Too cool--looks like it may have a few months left, huh?

[robsp2000]

More photos

Edited January 13, 2015 by robsp2000

[Jeff Searle]

According to local palm collector and landscaper, Andre Joris, this is a Corypha utan, not C. umbraculifera.

[robsp2000]

The Key West Citizen had it reported as a Talipot Palm, which the owner said they planted 30 years ago. They could be off though.

[Josh-O]

it's a monster for sure

[Moose]

The Key West Citizen had it reported as a Talipot Palm, which the owner said they planted 30 years ago. They could be off though.

Well sometimes newspapers make mistakes, especially if their trusted source is off. I know of only one other utan (juvenile) in Key West. Looking at the photos its hard to tell by the fronds but the leaflets do seem more deeply divided than umbraculifera. Plus I trust Andre's eye.

The utan in my garden has needed some trimming since its starting to over shade the understory stuff. Guess this thread got me motivated. Trimmed off 9 today, longest is 16 ft. Pretty long for a baby palm.

[Moose]

The newly trimmed base, the diameter is still expanding ...

[Moose]

Further up the base

[Moose]

Still has 15 leaves plus a spear leaf so the trimming should not hurt the removal of 8 green leaves. I'm sure the under story plants will enjoy the additional light..

[Moose]

I have noticed over the last few years that the leaflets are not as deeply divided and it has evolved a more prominent costapalmate leaf form.

Looking up from the base

[akamu]

Great looking palm moose very cool indeed

[Moose]

On the roof this morning, got this shot of the Corypha utan while up there.

[Sabal Steve]

Hey Moose,

I'm curious how fast that has grown for you? I would have thought that those needed more sun, like a lot of the big fan palms.

[Moose]

Hey Moose,

I'm curious how fast that has grown for you? I would have thought that those needed more sun, like a lot of the big fan palms.

Steve - can't locate my planting date notes. So by memory, the Corypha utan was planted 12 maybe 13 years ago. Yes it would appreciate more sun, it received much more sun exposure when it was planted. Many palms are adaptable and my Corypha utan seems to have accepted its lot in life.

Here are a some shots of emerging spear leaves of a baby Corypha umbraculifera looking up through its canopy. These spears are @ 20 ft in length from my guesstimation.

[Moose]

Kinda hard to capture the stature of the Corypha umbraculifera. Photos from underneath become silhouettes.

[Sabal Steve]

Thanks for the info Ron. It would be worth moving to S. Florida for the ability to grow one of these alone. I keep track of planting notes as well, it's a lot of fun to see how things grow over the years.

[Moose]

Thanks for the info Ron. It would be worth moving to S. Florida for the ability to grow one of these alone. I keep track of planting notes as well, it's a lot of fun to see how things grow over the years.

Located my notes Steve. the memory is not always accurate - the Corypha utan was planted 2003, so its 11 years from being planted as a three gallon size.

[Moose]

According to local palm collector and landscaper, Andre Joris, this is a Corypha utan, not C. umbraculifera.

It is my understanding that it is in fact a Corypha utan. Here she is very, very pregnant.

Photo taken Saturday, 06/06/2015 by my buddy Tim. Due date is around August to September. Should be raining fruit by then.

[Moose]

 

No raining of fruit yet. Last report I got was beginning of the month and all the fruit is still very green.

[Kris]

Nice visuals..

Love,

kris.

[SouthFLA]

There is a Talipot (Corypha) dropping hundreds of seeds now at Pinecrest Gardens near Miami, FL. I picked up a bunch of free seeds when I visited last weekend. here is the news article: Article

Pinecrest Gardens