Chamaedorea adscendens

[RainForestt Robert]

One of my favorite palms is Chamaedorea adscendens.  The leaves are thick, nicely colored, the plants don't require a lot of attention or take up a lot of space.  I have a half a dozen grown from seed.  Two are beginning to send up inflorescences.  They are 3+ years old.

Robert

[Jeff Searle]

Bob,

  I grow them as well, it is one of my favorite Chamy.'s. They do well here in S. Fla.

[Palmarum]

My C. adscendens is about 5 years old, and is one of my favorite Chamaedorea spp.

Ryan

[Shon]

One of my favorites also Bob.I have two planted in completely different spots in the yard.One gets a lot of sun and the other gets none at all.It's pretty cool same plant two completely different colors and look.A little slow compared to most Chamaedoreas.

                                      Shon

[Tyrone]

They're great. I bought a couple of flowering ones wrongly labeled as C metallica at a good price last summer. They went into the ground with another couple of youngsters to form a C adscendens patch. Tough pretty little things.

regards

Tyrone

[SubTropicRay]

An easy one to grow.  It likes the deeper shade and acidic soil.  In Florida where nematodes wreak havoc with Chams, this one has been bulletproof.

Ray

[quaman58]

Ditto my experiences here in San Diego. Growing in mostly shade conditions. Slow, steady, tough. I need to get another couple...

Bret

[Kamipalms]

Tough as old boots these ones... They cope with just about any abuse and bounce back with ease.

Their easy to pollinate but the males only drop pollen for up to 48 hours so you need to keep a close eye on things if your going to set seed.

Anyone have an entire or bifid leaf C.adscendens?

J.

[Al in Kona]

I have a couple of these still in containers and before I plant them out in the garden I'd like to have some idea as to how tall they can be expected to grow?  Anyone know?  

Nice to know they can handle quite a bit of sun as well.

[XYZ]

Howdy!

I agree with the board's view so far that this is an easy, near indestructible palm from seed. Comments from local plant dealers suggest just the opposite is true when transplanting them from the wild, so they are still extremely rare in cultivation here. There appear to be two color forms in nature; one a glaucous gray and the other, deep emerald green. Perhaps it is UV/solar intensity that we have here at 1,600 m (ca. 5000'), but I can't say that they handle "full" sun well at all in Guatemala City.

Jason: I have one genuine bifid-leaf plant and about 20 two year-old seedlings from seed taken from a wild bifid-leaved female. As most are aware, this plant is often bifid-leaf until about 40-50 cm tall, then they start throwing leaves with a basal pair of pinnae, and so on until they're completely "pinnate". I have found several hundred of these palms in the wild, and true bifid-leaf adults appear to be quite rare, although plants with only two pairs of pinnae are fairly common. In Guatemala at least, this palm is almost invariably found on the summits of limestone hillocks where the canopy is thin, light is very bright, always in company with C. schippii, C. tepejilote colonial form, Gaussia maya and Pimenta dioica (allspice).

A couple years back, some biology students from the national university mentioned to a colleague of mine that there were 3 m (ca. 10') C. adscendens in Laguna Lachuá NP. While both of us were initially sceptical about this report, since this is about double the height of the tallest specimens we had seen up to that time, last year we did encounter one (and a very old one at that) of this stature on a mogote adjacent to both the Chiapan border and Lachuá.

So, in summary, if you floss, eat right and exercise (and don't get hit by a vehicle, struck by lightning, etc.), you may live a long life and get to see your velvet palms' canopies from beneath.

Tinkerty-tonk,

SJ

[Howeadypsis]

Thats a nice looking palm! Would one be able to grow one from seed

[Al in Kona]

What a wealth of information we have on this Palmtalk site.  Stone Jaguar, thanks, you answered my question on C. adscendens with information from habitat no less.  SJ, are you at all familiar with Chamaedorea stricta which is also found in Guatemala?  I'd sure like to know what it's requirements are as my one plant just seems to be getting smaller and almost not growing at all.  I hope I can keep it alive.

[Kamipalms]

SJ,

Thanks for the extra info, your first hand knowelage is allways a great resource....

I do know of 1 true bifid leaf C.adscendens here in Perth but I haven't convinced the owner to part with it yet...need to twist that arm of his just a little bit harder...

Larry,

Very easy to grow from seed but your zone 8/9-ish may be a bit trying... but definatly worth a go.

Jason.

[XYZ]

Al:

Yes, I do grow C. stricta, and if you go to Jody Hayne's PACSOF site, there are photos that I took at the type locality in habitat of this sp. back in January 2003. Sadly, it is extremely threatened due to its habitat having been overrun by opium poppy growers for the second time in two decades. Aerial eradication programs being orchestrated by the DEA are probably not helping either. The area on Volcán Tajamulco where they are (were?) most common is also a bit tricky since there are land mines left over from the guerilla wars scattered around off the trails. The security situation there deteriorated almost immediately after my recon there in 2003 and it's been a no-go locality ever since. They are called hoja de cuero (leather leaf) by the local residents.

The big ones are, trust me, UNBELIEVABLE in life. There is a second population that I haven't visited (also reported to be mined), which is where Donald Hodel photographed the plants in his monograph. BTW - I've also seen C. rossteniorum in habitat in Coclé, Panamá and it is, IMO, nowhere near as impressive.

They appear to be extremely tricky and agonizingly slow to establish from the wild, but painless once they stick. I have mine in a 50:50 mix of 2 mm pumice and well-composted oak leaf litter and they're doing fine. A friend has one that I gave him growing in a floral bed beside his front door at 2,100 m elevation and it also seems to be doing well. They appear to respond well to liquid feed 20-20-20 + Mg sulphate every coupla months. I have found them growing in sympatry with C. elatior and C. rojasiana. My experience with Chams tells me that "shrink" is due to unhappy roots, although in the best of cases I would only expect two or three new leaves a year from this sp.

Jason: the true bifid-leaf C. adscendens do not ever produce even a single "free" pinna. Quite rare. My view is that as you move west to northeast from the Chiapan frontier with the Guatemalan department of El Quiché into southern Belize, the plants tend to become noticeably grayer and with more pinnae when mature. Lots of young plants in cultivation look like they'll be deep green and bifid when they grow up, but they're just kidding...

Good luck,

SJ

[Kim]

(stone jaguar @ Aug. 02 2006,12:37)

QUOTE

Yes, I do grow C. stricta, and if you go to Jody Hayne's PACSOF site, there are photos that I took at the type locality in habitat of this sp. back in January 2003. Sadly, it is extremely threatened due to its habitat having been overrun by opium poppy growers for the second time in two decades. Aerial eradication programs being orchestrated by the DEA are probably not helping either. The area on Volcán Tajamulco where they are (were?) most common is also a bit tricky since there are land mines left over from the guerilla wars scattered around off the trails. The security situation there deteriorated almost immediately after my recon there in 2003 and it's been a no-go locality ever since. They are called hoja de cuero (leather leaf) by the local residents.

When I read stuff like this, it dawns on me what a sheltered life I lead.  Want to look at palms?  Cruise to Quail Gardens or Balboa Park, or drive out to Palm Mountain or Jerry Anderson's or Rancho Soledad.  No opium gowers, no land mines, no aerial eradication programs. Whew!  Any hope for a brighter future for the palms on Volcán Tajamulco?

[XYZ]

Kim:

Presume that this is the "Kim" Kim?

Dunno about how long these small Mesoamerican palms are going to survive in the wild. In the region's uplands, there are enough inacessible, very steep ravines and so forth that pockets of these critters can probably hang on for quite some time, although be effectively out of reach of botanists, conservation biologists and palm aficionados. The middle elevations of Tajamulco were aggressively precision-sprayed with defoliants by the DEA for several years in the late '80s, yet the vegetation on parts of the Pacific slope seemed to be in fair shape when I was last up there. Tree canopy was intermittent and has also suffered selective extraction of hardwoods, but the understory stuff looked pretty OK. There was recent recruitment into the population evident here and there, and some plants had green fruit on them at that time. I would assume that, depending on how hard they've been hit this time around, the population will probably be in slow decline. The problem with some cloud forest Chams is that they appear to have very specific light/temperature/humidity/edaphic requirements that translate into very uneven distributions, even in "good" habitat. The apparent sex bias that one also sees in some species would also complicate things if they were subject to commercial extraction of mature plants, so evident in parts of Costa Rica and Panamá.

And yes, while I like buying rare plants from U.S. vendors as much as the next person, there are a lot of things that you'll never see in person unless you throw a pack on and hike up to see them.

SJ

[bobchang]

SJ,

Hi!  Thanks for enlightening us with your experience.   Say, is there any chance that you have a photo of that 3m C. adscendens that you can share with us?

Bob

[Howeadypsis]

(Kamipalms @ Aug. 02 2006,10:04)

QUOTE

Larry,

Very easy to grow from seed but your zone 8/9-ish may be a bit trying... but definatly worth a go.

Jason.

Kami, I would be growing it as a houseplant, it looks a small palm ideal for this setting.

[Kamipalms]

(stone jaguar @ Aug. 04 2006,03:35)

QUOTE

Dunno about how long these small Mesoamerican palms are going to survive in the wild.

Theres only one thing I can say to this;

If they eventually fade from habit there will be plenty at my house so theres no need to worry...

Larry,

Keep an eye on Joseph's website Ortanique for seeds, he sometimes has them available.  I'd offer some seeds but  it's going to be atleast another 12 months before I'll have any avaialble.

Kami..

[Caribbean Palms]

I have a group of twenty or so mature male & female plants that have been flowering for several years but have never held the seed to this size.

Any chance for viable seed??

[Moose]

Kim:

Presume that this is the "Kim" Kim?

Dunno about how long these small Mesoamerican palms are going to survive in the wild. In the region's uplands, there are enough inacessible, very steep ravines and so forth that pockets of these critters can probably hang on for quite some time, although be effectively out of reach of botanists, conservation biologists and palm aficionados. The middle elevations of Tajamulco were aggressively precision-sprayed with defoliants by the DEA for several years in the late '80s, yet the vegetation on parts of the Pacific slope seemed to be in fair shape when I was last up there. Tree canopy was intermittent and has also suffered selective extraction of hardwoods, but the understory stuff looked pretty OK. There was recent recruitment into the population evident here and there, and some plants had green fruit on them at that time. I would assume that, depending on how hard they've been hit this time around, the population will probably be in slow decline. The problem with some cloud forest Chams is that they appear to have very specific light/temperature/humidity/edaphic requirements that translate into very uneven distributions, even in "good" habitat. The apparent sex bias that one also sees in some species would also complicate things if they were subject to commercial extraction of mature plants, so evident in parts of Costa Rica and Panamá.

And yes, while I like buying rare plants from U.S. vendors as much as the next person, there are a lot of things that you'll never see in person unless you throw a pack on and hike up to see them.

SJ

[Caribbean Palms]

Yes, in answer to my question from the previous post. I've had success at producing viable seed from my older plants pictured 3 years ago... They've been growing in my unheated green house and went through 30degrees F this past winter and didn't blink. They are still growing in 3 gal. containers as I don't have the needed shade in my garden and the tallest is about 4 feet now.

[tjwalters]

I have several grown from seed, each in its own 6" pot. They are quite happy and have been flowering, fruiting and setting seed now for several years. They spend the summers out doors in the shade of the oak woods, and winters in the house. These are tough little palms. Here's one of the females:

[PalmGuyWC]

I can understand why C. adscendens don't transplant well from the wild. Several years ago I brought 5 blooming sized plants from Fla. to Calif. I potted them all together in a 3 gal. container. They grew very slowly and languished for about 2 years. I repotted them thinking they needed a different soil mix. I discovered they only had a few roots and no new roots had regenerated.

The second time I potted them deeper with about 2 inches of trunk below the surface. I then wrapped the base of the trunks with spagnum moss which I kept moist. I had tried this technique before with C. Ernest-Augustii and C. metallica and they grew new roots from the base of the trunk in just a few months. After a year I could detect no new roots on the C. adscendens, but they refused to die. They finally looked so ratty I gave them away.

Recently I lucked out and purchased a 3 gal, California grown, pot with 8 blooming sized C. adscendens. They are jammed together but the plants were perfectly grown with no brown tips. I plan to move them to a larger pot, but being careful not to disturb the roots. They seem not to mind our cool Calif. nights but I protected mine from frost.

Dick

[tjwalters]

I can understand why C. adscendens don't transplant well from the wild. Several years ago I brought 5 blooming sized plants from Fla. to Calif. I potted them all together in a 3 gal. container. They grew very slowly and languished for about 2 years. I repotted them thinking they needed a different soil mix. I discovered they only had a few roots and no new roots had regenerated.

The second time I potted them deeper with about 2 inches of trunk below the surface. I then wrapped the base of the trunks with spagnum moss which I kept moist. I had tried this technique before with C. Ernest-Augustii and C. metallica and they grew new roots from the base of the trunk in just a few months. After a year I could detect no new roots on the C. adscendens, but they refused to die. They finally looked so ratty I gave them away.

Recently I lucked out and purchased a 3 gal, California grown, pot with 8 blooming sized C. adscendens. They are jammed together but the plants were perfectly grown with no brown tips. I plan to move them to a larger pot, but being careful not to disturb the roots. They seem not to mind our cool Calif. nights but I protected mine from frost.

Dick

I've also noticed they do not put out many strong roots, but seem to survive on the few they do produce. Odd. Perhaps an adaption to rugged conditions (generally thin soil, limestone, seasonally dry) in which it is naturally found?

[Moose]

It suprises me that we don't see so many in gardens. You would think they would be as popular as Chamaedorea metalica.

A beautiful underused palm for an under canopy position in a garden.

Ron.

[PalmGuyWC]

Cham. metallica has been around for a long time and C. adscendens is a relatively new introduction. I'm sure they will become more popular in the future as they become more plentiful. They are still kind of rare.

Dick