Jump to content

  • WELCOME GUEST

    It looks as if you are viewing PalmTalk as an unregistered Guest.

    Please consider registering so as to take better advantage of our vast knowledge base and friendly community.  By registering you will gain access to many features - among them are our powerful Search feature, the ability to Private Message other Users, and be able to post and/or answer questions from all over the world. It is completely free, no “catches,” and you will have complete control over how you wish to use this site.

    PalmTalk is sponsored by the International Palm Society. - an organization dedicated to learning everything about and enjoying palm trees (and their companion plants) while conserving endangered palm species and habitat worldwide. Please take the time to know us all better and register.

    guest Renda04.jpg

Attalea crassispatha in South Florida

Mandrew968

By Mandrew968
in DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE

 Share

Recommended Posts

Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
Posted

I am posting these pictures because I know that this palm is basically unknown to a lot of you palmlovers. It is one of my favorites and maybe the most significant Attalea in the very large and enigmatic genus. Native to southwest Haiti, this palm is critically endangered. It's also the only known species of Attalea native to the Caribbean. Once you have seen one, these palms are pretty discernable. This palm should also go into the 'Monsters' category as it is a real beast! These palms look like a Coconut on steroids. It's very cold sensitive and extremely rare--only a few colonies known of locally and no one I know of has one privately(not much room for such a monster in most gardens). These palms are starting to set seed so they can't be exceedingly rare for long... Hope you enjoy!

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kostas Grand Master

Kostas

Posted
Posted

Awesome palms! Great to see these finally fruiting, I was searching for flowering/fruiting ones when I was in SoFL in 2010 and saw no reproductive specimen

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Ed, you might want to put these on Palmpedia as they are good shots of mature plants in cultivation--I will get more from the other colonies...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted
9 minutes ago, Kostas said:

Awesome palms! Great to see these finally fruiting, I was searching for flowering/fruiting ones when I was in SoFL in 2010 and saw no reproductive specimen

It might have been too early for them, at that time. I know of only one plant that would have been mature at that time(fairchild).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kostas Grand Master

Kostas

Posted
Posted

I went and saw them in Fairchild as well back then, none had ever flowered then

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Monòver Grand Master

Monòver

Posted
Posted

I never have seen this palms. They are amazing.

They are like a mix between Cocos and Roystonea oleracea.

Thanks for post the pictures and for the information.:greenthumb:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted
4 hours ago, Kostas said:

I went and saw them in Fairchild as well back then, none had ever flowered then

Kostas, you are right and you are wrong--right in that the colony that they had planted was immature at that time. However, in the jungle that cuts from the festival field out to the back parking, there is a monster one in there. It is all by itself and is so large, I mistook it for a regular Attalea more than once! must have been planted over 50 years ago...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted
2 hours ago, Monòver said:

They are like a mix between Cocos and Roystonea oleracea.

Hey, I like that description! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Howeadypsis Mentor

Howeadypsis

Posted
Posted

They look strong sturdy palms

Larry Shone in wet and sunny north-east England!  Zone9 ish

Tie two fish together and though they have two tails they cannot swim <>< ><>

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kostas Grand Master

Kostas

Posted
Posted

I am not sure i saw a truly huge A. crassispatha, they only had like 2-3m of trunk with huge leafs on top so i probably missed that one. Must be a wonderful one!

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted
9 hours ago, Kostas said:

I am not sure i saw a truly huge A. crassispatha, they only had like 2-3m of trunk with huge leafs on top so i probably missed that one. Must be a wonderful one!

Yeah, it has over 30 feet of trunk now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Alicehunter2000 Grand Master

Alicehunter2000

Posted
Posted

Always rely on Andrew to come up with some cool virtually unknown species. Great looking palms.

  • Upvote 1

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rick Community Regular

rick

Posted
Posted

Great to hear that some are seeding. They would look great in the right landscape. Here's some of the ones at Montgomery

 DSC_0176.thumb.JPG.196f478f3b80c8bcc533b

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Zeeth Grand Master

Zeeth

Posted
Posted

Great pictures! You say it's cold sensitive; how would you estimate it compared with a coconut? 

  • Like 1

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jeff Searle Grand Master

Jeff Searle

Posted
Posted
53 minutes ago, Zeeth said:

Great pictures! You say it's cold sensitive; how would you estimate it compared with a coconut? 

Keith,

    These palms over the years have proven to be pretty tough and can take brief periods of very low 30's. Some of these have been planted out now in the 15 year period, give or take a few. So they've seen some good cold. I would compare them right close to a coconut.

  • Like 1

Searle Brothers Nursery Inc.

and The Rainforest Collection.

Southwest Ranches,Fl.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Jeff is right on with his estimate--Some could succumb and some have, but once they start to trunk, they seem to be pretty strong. I know FIU had one that was struggling for the longest time. Scott Zona got that one installed if I am not mistaken.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Ok, just got back from MBC. Always a pleasure to work with them!! While I was out there, I was able to get those updated pics of this amazing palm.

crass6.jpg

crass5.jpg

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted

These palms have grown. A little perspective with the shoe selfie.

crass2.jpg

crass3.jpg

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Last shot of these monsters today! Thanks Montgomery Botanical Center for being such a great botanical partner to us. This is of the mature tree. Hope you enjoyed. Two colonies down--one more to go...

crass4.jpg

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
JasonD Mentor

JasonD

Posted
Posted

They look a bit like a coconut x Jubaea hybrid. Cool post, Mandrew968: a conservation-through-cultivation success story.

  • Upvote 1

Jason Dewees

Inner Sunset District

San Francisco, California

Sunset zone 17

USDA zone 10a

21 inches / 530mm annual rainfall, mostly October to April

Humidity averages 60 to 85 percent year-round.

Summer: 67F/55F | 19C/12C

Winter: 56F/44F | 13C/6C

40-year extremes: 96F/26F | 35.5C/-3.8C

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 7/15/2016, 3:17:10, JasonD said:

They look a bit like a coconut x Jubaea hybrid. Cool post, Mandrew968: a conservation-through-cultivation success story.

Hi Jason. We have a lot of those types of stories in the palm world. One of the great aspects of this hobb-session...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Matthew92 Veteran

Matthew92

Posted
Posted

Here's a picture I took of what I think is an Attalea crassispatha at the Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead/Redlands, FL. This was in June of 2010 and many of the very tender palms in the area had cold damage from that past winter. Looks like this one has damage as well. Someone I know who lived nearby said it got to at least freezing (enough to burn coconuts) and I almost want to say that they said there was some frost as well.

578e3ce492b2d_MC303.thumb.JPG.8f480d0761

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah, even as a large palm, it looks to have burned or been damaged...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 7/12/2016, 9:08:50, Kostas said:

I went and saw them in Fairchild as well back then, none had ever flowered then

 

It took me a while, but I finally got the pics--this is the one you missed and the largest one in the United States, no doubt. 

crassy1.jpg

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Zeeth Grand Master

Zeeth

Posted
Posted

Any idea how old the super tall one is? It seems that this species takes on a slightly different look once they're that size, with the leaves drooping below the horizon.

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted
16 hours ago, Zeeth said:

Any idea how old the super tall one is? It seems that this species takes on a slightly different look once they're that size, with the leaves drooping below the horizon.

I wasn't able to figure it out from the tag.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...
Zeeth Grand Master

Zeeth

Posted
Posted

Here's a nice article that details successful fruiting of an Attalea crassispatha in cultivation. Hopefully this means that it will soon become available to us palm collectors. 

(As a head's up, the name of the URL is mis-leading)

http://www.palmbeachpalmcycadsociety.com/palms/documents/AcrocomiaCrispa.pdf

The color of the fruit almost look Syagrus-like. 

  • Like 1

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mandrew968 Grand Master

Mandrew968

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Very cool Keith. Was this article recent? I would imagine, maybe palmtalk has inspired that article?,, very happy to see...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Zeeth Grand Master

Zeeth

Posted
Posted
54 minutes ago, Mandrew968 said:

Very cool Keith. Was this article recent? I would imagine, maybe palmtalk has inspired that article?,, very happy to see...

The article comes from the October 2016 Palm Beach Palm and Cycad society newsletter, so it's quite recent!

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...