Most Beautiful Palm Species Poll 2020

[palmsOrl]

Okay, so this topic has obviously come up on Palmtalk multiple times in the past, however, tastes and opinions change with time and we are always welcoming new members into the ranks.  Thus, I think this makes for an interesting topic to be revisited occasionally to both see where our fellow Palmtalker's tastes lie as well as to stimulate interesting discussion about some of our favorite palms.

Again, for the poll choices just listing a particular genus, please select that genus from among the poll choices, then in the below thread, post the particular species within that genus that you feel is the most beautiful palm.

If your selection for the world's most beautiful palm species is not among the listed poll choices, please post your choice in the thread below!

Note, your opinion of the world's most beautiful palm may or may not be one and the same as which palm you would consider to be your favorite species.  There is a similar thread for "Favorite Palm Species".

Heck, I think Sabal palmetto is in my top 20 favorite palm species because it represents home and is Florida's state tree and I admire its durability and adaptability and I often find its countless environmentally shaped growth forms interesting.  I do not think it is a very attractive palm, as palms go and it certainly would not make it into even the top 200 list for me there.  

-Michael

[waykoolplantz]

Cuban Petticoat

[akamu]

Dictyocaryum lamarckianum

[Kim]

 I don't know if you noticed, but PalmTalk has just launched a major project for conservation of Tahina spectabilis and support for the villages who protect it.          

I hereby nominate Tahina spectabilis as a contender for the title of Most Beautiful Palm Species. 

In all truth, I could name a different palm "Most Beautiful" every day of the month.  Bo and I had a discussion about palm appreciation. He said, if you only have 5 palms, your chances of having what he called a "palm event" on any given day, are pretty slim. But the more palms you have, the more chances of having a special palm event, which is kind of a thrill. A "palm event" might be a new spike, or a new leaf opening, or the revelation of color when a frond drops, or a new spathe is revealed, or the spathe is shed to reveal flowers, a first ring forming a trunk -- you get the idea. If you are growing a dozen palms, that's great, but your palm events will be fairly infrequent. If you are growing 200 palms of a variety of species, suddenly you have many more chances for palm event appreciation. And if you are growing 500 palms, you have the chance to marvel at several palm events on any given day! 

Was it Pauleen Sullivan who, when asked which palm was her favorite, replied, "Whichever one I'm looking at right now!" (paraphrasing) My guess is most of us feel that way about our collections, making it virtually impossible to pick one as "Most Beautiful." But it's fun to try...
 

[www.dadluvsu.com]

They’re all beautiful... but if it’s a beauty pageant, I think a well grown mature  Johannesteijsmannia magnifica gets my vote for a perfect 10.  

[JLM]

Cocos nucifera

[Xenon]

The Lemurophoenix halleuxii at Floribunda Palms 

[The Palm Nut]

Licuala peltata sumawongii  when the leaves keep there shape.

[GottmitAlex]

The emperor of palms. The sillouhette and gracefulness many palm aficionados strive for within their own collection of different plumose palms.

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by GottmitAlex

[greysrigging]

My most beautiful palms are not in backyards or botanical gardens.... they are to be found naturally in habitat. Sure, I can visit an exotic at an enthusiast's yard and you know, "Wow!"
But honestly there is nothing better than seeing the species listed on these Forums and FB pages 'in the flesh' ( apologies Debra Harry and Blondie ).
And although I haven't traveled overseas much, I have visited many Aussie species in habitat.... every time with the "oh yeah !" factor.
There is no better experience wandering through a Licuala ramsayi grove at dawn with a wind blowing through the fronds..... likewise clambering up the Victoria River escarpment on a 105f October day and looking up at the Livistonas perched precariously on the cliff face......
Or seeing the palms of Norfolk Is and Lord Howe Is in habitat as opposed to a forlorn specimen or 2 potted up inside a hotel lobby ( ( didn't climb that big mountain, but....lol ).
Here in the Top End we can see Carpentarias in habitat only a couples of miles from my house, along with Livistona benthami, humilis, Hydriastele ramsayi ( 40 miles away as the crow flies ) Corypha utan and the Florence Falls Palm, Hydriastele wendlandiana. We have a jungle wetland out in our rural area that has a variety of Ptychosperma macarthuri ( bleeseri ), Livistonas at Mataranka, Palm Valley, Lawn Hill (  north west QLD ), Carnarvon Gorge, the Kimberleys, Millstream in the Pilbara, the Livistona Australis in the hinterlands and coastal ranges of the south east ( Mt Keira above Woolongong ). 
Then who can forget the humble Archontopoenix .... pretty special standing among tall stately varieties in the sub tropical coastal highlands.... a fine species !
I'm not a fan of the 'wait-a-whiles'( Calamus ) of the coastal rain forests.... they see me coming and reach out and draw blood every time.... haha.
I'm sure I've missed some, but these I have visited and taken in their splendor and beauty. Would like to see the Foxtails and Normans in habitat one day......
My son took these pics.... Hydriastele ramsayi.



 

[waykoolplantz]

your Calamus comment might lead to a new topic.  Painfull Palms

[greysrigging]

13 minutes ago, waykoolplantz said:

your Calamus comment might lead to a new topic.  Painfull Palms

Well..... foolishly my 'evil' armored specimens seem to be in close proximity to my jungle walking paths.....haha
I can still remember purchasing the wicked 'wait-a-while' Calamus australis, thinking...no one in Darwin will have this QLD exotic and I had a lightning damaged eucalypt for it to climb up.... and no, no one has because they have a few more brains than the 30 year old version of me.... lol !. The cursed thing thinks it is home in north eastern Queensland.... it scrambles all through my eastern boundary garden where it lies silently in wait for unsuspecting pedestrians to walk past.... then it reaches out and draws blood every time.... I swear it is sentient !
Licuala spinosa is also painful, Corypha utan frond stalks don't mind human blood either.....lol !

[GottmitAlex]

7 minutes ago, greysrigging said:

Well..... foolishly my 'evil' armored specimens seem to be in close proximity to my jungle walking paths.....haha
I can still remember purchasing the wicked 'wait-a-while' Calamus australis, thinking...no one in Darwin will have this QLD exotic and I had a lightning damaged eucalypt for it to climb up.... and no, no one has because they have a few more brains than the 30 year old version of me.... lol !. The cursed thing thinks it is home in north eastern Queensland.... it scrambles all through my eastern boundary garden where it lies silently in wait for unsuspecting pedestrians to walk past.... then it reaches out and draws blood every time.... I swear it is sentient !
Licuala spinosa is also painful, Corypha utan frond stalks don't mind human blood either.....lol !

OK. I had to look up Calamus australis (Hairy Mary):

Thanks a lot but no thanks (Song from the film It's always fair weather. Great movie). I don't know why this palm is even mentioned in this thread....

[Daryl]

I voted for Joeys on this list. Whilst most of the others on the list are noteworthy, I would classify most of them as handsome, striking, magnificent, spectacular etc, but for pure beauty,  it has to be a Joey! 

[Darold Petty]

14 hours ago, Kim said:

 Was it Pauleen Sullivan who, when asked which palm was her favorite, replied, "Whichever one I'm looking at right now!"

 

Yes, Kim, that was Pauleen.  She said it once to me directly.

  She was also famous for 'grabbing the check'.   I used to visit Pauleen, one on one.  She would approach her car in the wheelchair, stand up, fold the chair and place it behing the driver's seat, drive us around her properties to display her palms, drive us to lunch, and then "GRAB the check", everytime !!!!!!!! 

  In addition, she had a wry and subversive sense of humor.

  She would use fingernail polish to paint the leafbases of her Chamaedorea hooperiana plants.  She painted them bright red, to mimic Cyrtostachys.   

[palmsOrl]

17 hours ago, akamu said:

Dictyocaryum lamarckianum

Akamu, I have to admit, when creating the poll choices, Dictyocaryum lamarckianum was the palm I was intending to include, NOT Deckenia nobilis.  Sorry about that!

-Michael

[palmsOrl]

17 hours ago, Kim said:

 I don't know if you noticed, but PalmTalk has just launched a major project for conservation of Tahina spectabilis and support for the villages who protect it.          

I hereby nominate Tahina spectabilis as a contender for the title of Most Beautiful Palm Species. 

In all truth, I could name a different palm "Most Beautiful" every day of the month.  Bo and I had a discussion about palm appreciation. He said, if you only have 5 palms, your chances of having what he called a "palm event" on any given day, are pretty slim. But the more palms you have, the more chances of having a special palm event, which is kind of a thrill. A "palm event" might be a new spike, or a new leaf opening, or the revelation of color when a frond drops, or a new spathe is revealed, or the spathe is shed to reveal flowers, a first ring forming a trunk -- you get the idea. If you are growing a dozen palms, that's great, but your palm events will be fairly infrequent. If you are growing 200 palms of a variety of species, suddenly you have many more chances for palm event appreciation. And if you are growing 500 palms, you have the chance to marvel at several palm events on any given day! 

Was it Pauleen Sullivan who, when asked which palm was her favorite, replied, "Whichever one I'm looking at right now!" (paraphrasing) My guess is most of us feel that way about our collections, making it virtually impossible to pick one as "Most Beautiful." But it's fun to try...
 

Hear hear!

Kim, I could not agree more and I was actually thinking yesterday after the creation of this thread that trying to pick just one (or even five) palm(s) as the most "beautiful" is futile for me because I have had many species strike me as just that, depending on surroundings, context, mood and a myriad of other factors.

For example, while I find massive fan palms impressive and awe-inspiring, anyone on here who knows me and has read many of my posts knows that I am not a "massive fan palm" kind of guy.  Nonetheless, there has been at least once where I have laid my eyes on a behemoth of a Bismarckia towering into a sapphire sky on a beautiful, warm, sunny day and at that moment, it truly had to have been the most beautiful palm I had ever seen.

Admittedly, I have not done as much "homework" on the Tahina Project as I should have.  That said, I intend to lend the level of support I am currently able to and would encourage other Palmtalkers to join in taking steps to preserve this incredible palm species, Tahina spectabilis and its unique habitat for its human, animal and other plant residents and so that future generations can appreciate ALL that Madagascar has to offer.

Tahina spectabilis.

This massive, monocarpic monolith producing seed:

[Kim]

32 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

Hear hear!

Kim, I could not agree more and I was actually thinking yesterday after the creation of this thread that trying to pick just one (or even five) palm(s) as the most "beautiful" is futile for me because I have had many species strike me as just that, depending on surroundings, context, mood and a myriad of other factors.

For example, while I find massive fan palms impressive and awe-inspiring, anyone on here who knows me and has read many of my posts knows that I am not a "massive fan palm" kind of guy.  Nonetheless, there has been at least once where I have laid my eyes on a behemoth of a Bismarckia towering into a sapphire sky on a beautiful, warm, sunny day and at that moment, it truly had to have been the most beautiful palm I had ever seen.

Admittedly, I have not done as much "homework" on the Tahina Project as I should have.  That said, I intend to lend the level of support I am currently able to and would encourage other Palmtalkers to join in taking steps to preserve this incredible palm species, Tahina spectabilis and its unique habitat for its human, animal and other plant residents and so that future generations can appreciate ALL that Madagascar has to offer.

Tahina spectabilis.

This massive, monocarpic monolith producing seed:

Michael, thanks for your eloquent reply! And thanks especially for your commitment to support the Tahina project, and for encouraging others to follow you. That's the spirit!

(Edit: I'd swear that's a flowering Corypha umbraculifera ...)

[PALM MOD]

18 hours ago, Kim said:

Was it Pauleen Sullivan who, when asked which palm was her favorite, replied, "Whichever one I'm looking at right now!" (paraphrasing) My guess is most of us feel that way about our collections, making it virtually impossible to pick one as "Most Beautiful." But it's fun to try...
 

If Kim hadn't already mentioned this - I was going to make sure it was stated. But I wasn't sure who said it either. I too thought it was Pauleen. So it may be.

I heard it as when asked what she thought was "the most beautiful palm in the world?" - her answer was, "The one I'm looking at."

And yes Mike - your pledge to add to the Tahina support is duly noted and appreciated.

[palmsOrl]

15 hours ago, PatientPalms said:

They’re all beautiful... but if it’s a beauty pageant, I think a well grown mature  Johannesteijsmannia magnifica gets my vote for a perfect 10.  

I have to say, you could probably sway me on this choice.  The mature Johannesteijsmannia hit me in a certain way that no other palm does, although the Marojejya come closest to this prehistoric, otherworldly, "Avatar" type feel.

As a side note, I get a legit sense of dread everytime the need to spell this genera arises and lord knows I couldn't say Johannesteijsmannia to save my life!  Fortunately, one can fall back on simply "the joey palm".

[awkonradi]

13 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Is that Boba Fett?

 

[GottmitAlex]

@awkonradi Looks like a Storm trooper. (Got the pic from "Rogue One" art)

[palmsOrl]

12 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

OK. I had to look up Calamus australis (Hairy Mary):

Thanks a lot but no thanks (Song from the film It's always fair weather. Great movie). I don't know why this palm is even mentioned in this thread....

Yikes!!! and here I thought Acrocomia crispa was bad!  So bad in fact that the species has the dubious distinction of being one of only three palms I have ever "done away with deliberately, admittedly all were due to poor planning on my part.  The Acrocomia was in a tight corner and after several slow years, took off, getting broader and broader so everytime I was forced to tidy it up the hypodermic needles it called spines gave me numerous painful puncture wounds.  Not only that, it seems that the palm actually shed these needle-like spines, because on many occasions, while cleaning up detritus in the area, I would get suddenly poked by the vicious things.

The other two palms I was forced to remove include an African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) that I planted in the middle of my small rainforest garden as a kid around 1997.  Bud-hardy the species is but foliage-hardy it is not and this was during a period where suburban Orlando still experienced multiple freeze events during an average year, so it would get defoliated yearly (even from 30-31F) yet survive 25F.  Despite this, it eventually did get quite large and between this, its unsightly appearance most of the time and the thorns, I took the axe to it one day.

The third and only other palm I intentionally did away with was a queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) that I also planted in my aforementioned rainforest garden in the late 1990s.  By 2005 or so, it was getting massive and it was crowding out too much of the canopy space in the garden, so I had to take it down.  I recall feeling sad as I did the job on that particular palm.

I will say that neither Elaeis guineensis nor Acrocomia crispa would make it onto my "top 500" list of the world's most beautiful palms.  Syagrus romanzoffiana, however, would when at its very best.

[Cluster]

Do I have to say anything else?:)

 

[John hovancsek]

I cant make my mind but I am into pinanga licuala and hydriastele right now and am trying new palms in my garden like rapaloblast elagans  and prestoea Montana 

[Pal Meir]

The most beautiful? Of course Cocos Weddelliana!

[PalmatierMeg]

So many beautiful palms! My choice for today is Carpoxylon macrospermum!

[palmsOrl]

Meg, I thought seriously about including Carpoxylon as one of the poll choices.  I just bought a small one from SWFLChris and it is growing like a weed already.

Pal Meir, great selection!  I was going to get one of these as a housewarming gift for my dad for the porch of the new place last year, but alas, I saw that Cyrtostachys Apple seedling and tough choices had to be made. 

This idea just popped into my head.  Just running it by everyone.  So, mods, how many poll choices can be assigned when creating a Palmtalk thread?  It would be interesting (after a year or two) to create a new thread with the subject of either "World's Most Beautiful Palm" or "Which is your Favorite Palm Species?" and set an even 100 poll choices, after carefully putting together the list of 100 contenders based on discussions here and elsewhere, observations in local landscapes, botanical gardens and palm vendors as well as palm-related literature, etc.

The thing is, I don't know what the limit is for poll choices and I also don't want to .

[sonoranfans]

most beautiful is different than most awesome.  ANd I think beautiful should have some crownshaft color if its pinnate.  The most awesome, the one that renders speechlessness in person is probably tahina, it transforms the landscape with just one palm.   Most beautiful for me would be a crownshafted palm with great color and a nice crown and there are lots of them.  Whatever dypsis orange crush is called now(piluifera), satakentia, Dictyocaryum lamarckianum, etc like that.   I remember a nicely arranged grove of dypsis pilulifera in former PT president Bo Goran's garden that was so stunning it was out of this world.  But yeah beauty is partly color, and I see plenty of green in florida.  When I was out west, green was much more amazing and uncommon.