Copernicia curtissii- what a great looking palm

[Eric in Orlando]

Copernicia curtissii is a Cuban palm I don't see much talk about. I saw these at Fairchild yesterday way out in the lowlands. What a great smaller palm, it almost has the look of a Pritchardia. Are these ever available ?

[sur4z]

I want one !!

[SubTropicRay]

I've had a clumping form growing in my garden since 2000. It had some leaf burn in 2010 but has otherwise been unaffected by our cold snaps. It is very slow growing and still only about 5 feet tall.

[Mandrew968]

I am waiting for the revision on Copernicia, by Mr. Craft, to see if it holds up as a species. But yes, I have them...

[Alicehunter2000]

Fairchild should sell some seed from the looks of it....do they ever sell seed? to individuals? or brokers?

[MAPU 1]

I have them for sale at my nursery in Loxahatchee. The don't look like the ones in the foto, Paul Craft says thats what they are.

I have one plant in the ground that is clumping and is very blue.It has been seeding for several years and currently has nothing to hybridize with,

so the seedlings are pure! The mother plant came from the Isle of Pines.I collected six seeds and one grew.

[Josh-O]

Mapu, can you post a pic?

[avanza]

Yes yes Mapu.

[Moose]

This species could be found many years ago at palm sales. The C. baileyana, fallensis, macroglossa, hospita and rigida were the ones everyone were after. So this is an uncommon palm to be found, a collector's palm. With the proliferation of Copernicia at Fairchild,i would be suspect of all their seed has been cross pollinated.

Mr. Holton would have self pollinated seed due it being isolated. The Copernicia curtissii at his nursery may be some of but a very few available anywhere.

[MAPU 1]

I have to go to my Loxahatchee nsy first to take a foto.

Dale

[peachy]

Its gorgeous as are all Copernicias, but they take a million years to grow.

[Eric in Orlando]

Next time I come down there I will try to seek one out.

[MAPU 1]

Here is a picture of my Copernicia curtissii.

Dale

[Ken Johnson]

There does seem to be a disconnect between Eric's picture and Dale's...

[Eric in Orlando]

According to Riffle, Craft and Zona's "Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms", it sounds like it is a variable palm. They say it grows as a solitary or clustering palm and that there is a silver form (from inland savannah areas) and a green form (coastal regions). It is native in the western part of Pinar del Rio, Cuba and the Isle of Youth.

Looking at Kew's entry for it, a synonym is Copernicia hospita var. clarensis.

[Eric in Orlando]

Here is a picture of my Copernicia curtissii.

Dale

Dale, that is an awesome form of it !!!

[Ken Johnson]

I have grown this palm before too but sold it long ago. I see some in a garden down here near Homestead that have flowered profusely this year. I was "sure" they were not what the owner called them... "green hospita"... but I could not get a name to match it. Now I think I might call them curtissii. They have relatively fat trunks but the owner fertilizes heavily so that explains that. I have seen seasons where a species (all of them in town) blooms profusely. The ones I'm speaking of have so many flowers they look alien!

[Eric in Orlando]

Now I want a single green form and a silver suckering form!

[Josh-O]

Here is a picture of my Copernicia curtissii.

Dale

Dale, killer palm with great color