Pigafetta filaris

[bubba]

In the outstanding book by Riffle and Craft " Cultivated Palms" David Fairchild( Fairchild Gardens) is quoted regarding the fantastic beauty of the palm , which he identifies as his favorite.Mention is also made of a mature Pigafetta in Miami. However, there are no Pigafetta's at Fairchild.Can anyone comment on there locations and experiences with the cultivation of this palm? Any known in Florida or elsewhere in the world?

[Walter John]

Nambour, Queensland, Australia, Piggies peform

[Walter John]

The trunks of these same palms from previous pic

[amazon exotics]

I know somebody growing them in pots in Homestead. ???

[bubba]

Wow! and do they ever. More please anywhere!

[bgl]

Bubba,

We all have our favorites (and fortunately it's not all the same palm), and as much as I respect David Fairchild, I have to disagree with his opinion. Pigafettas are great looking and impressive palms, but I would not consider it the most beautiful palm . In my book - as most of you know - that distinction goes to Clinostigma samoense, now apparently renamed C. warburgii. Pigafetta fronds tend to get very beat up by the winds when the palms get taller. Here are three individuals in our garden. And I should point out that most of the time, we hardly have any wind here - just a light breeze. But wind is like an occasional frost - it only takes one day to mess things up! Incidentally, I acquired all my Pigafettas as P. filaris, and then mysteriously they all apparently turned into P. elata.

[SubTropicRay]

A stunning palm through and through.

[epicure3]

(bgl @ May 29 2007,12:39)

QUOTE

Bubba,

We all have our favorites (and fortunately it's not all the same palm), and as much as I respect David Fairchild, I have to disagree with his opinion. Pigafettas are great looking and impressive palms, but I would not consider it the most beautiful palm . In my book - as most of you know - that distinction goes to Clinostigma samoense, now apparently renamed C. warburgii. Pigafetta fronds tend to get very beat up by the winds when the palms get taller. Here are three individuals in our garden. And I should point out that most of the time, we hardly have any wind here - just a light breeze. But wind is like an occasional frost - it only takes one day to mess things up! Incidentally, I acquired all my Pigafettas as P. filaris, and then mysteriously they all apparently turned into P. elata.

Ah, yes, but look at those trunks. Who needs fronds?

[TikiRick]

I know of no mature (of fruiting size) Pigafetta outdoors in South Florida. Although we do not get a frost/freeze regularly (thankfully!), it does get into the low 40's once or twice per winter....on a warm winter. I doubt if the Pigafetta could take these temperatures in addition to the strong winds that we have all year long.

In fact, I am not certain if a Pigafetta would even live outdoors to maturity in the Florida Keys either.

[Gileno Machado]

Juvenile Pigafetta, Rufino's garden, PB, Northeastern Brazil

[Gileno Machado]

I have killed one of these by placing it in the ground outside near the beach. These palms don't seem to enjoy very sandy soils and windy coastal positions at young age. I still have another 2 m tall seedling, ready to explode a big concrete pot and I'm planning to plant it on a more protected spot, in heavily amended clayey soil.

Trunk detail:

[JakeK]

Bo, curious if you somehow remove the dying/dead fronds before they fall. I've seen how spiny they are and since this is a tall and large growing palm they could do some serious damage to someone or something.

I think these are Pigafetta's growing at the Wilson Botanical Gardens in Agua Buena, Costa Rica. It's at about 3800', but far from being considered the cool tropics. I would like to visit this place in person on my next trip down later on this summer, but I don't think i'll have enough time.

[bgl]

Jake,

Once you have a Pigafetta that's more than, say 40-50 ft tall, then removing the dead fronds before they fall is not a practical option. The dead (and brown) fronds tend to hang on for a couple of weeks before falling to the ground. This is a good news/bad news situation. Bad news: makes the palm look bad. Good news: the fronds actually dry  out quite a bit and when the frond falls it's not very heavy. Nothing like a Clinostigma or Roystonea frond, even though sizewise they're very similar. You just don't want to stand right underneath the palm when a frond falls, because those spines have a tendency to bury themselves right below the skin, and break off. Removing the tiny remnants of the barely visible spine(s) from your finger (or whatever) is a very annoying and timeconsuming operation!

Bo-Göran

[Daryl]

Here's mine in southern Queensland. There are quite a few in this area now. They are all Pigafetta elata (Black Piggy).

Daryl

[bgl]

Epicure3,

yeah, you may be right - who needs fronds....  After a while the palm is so tall you can hardly see them without binoculars anyway! And I agree, the trunk is stunning. Here are four of ours - for some strange reason the one in the foreground has all this growth and moss on the trunk (about 20 ft up, above that the trunk is nice and green and clean), while the 3 in the background display the standard dark green clean look.

Bo-Göran