Iriartea deltoidea

[realarch]

Took about ten years to finally flower, found that big horn shaped spathe on the ground this morning. 

Handsome, robust, and fast growing palm. The whitish trunk stands out amount all the brown and green. 

Abundant Central and South American palm. 

Tim

[realarch]

Tall, straight as an arrow, with cool leaflets.

Tim

[quaman58]

Tim, that is one cool looking, unusual palm. Never seen that one before, thanks for posting! 

[John hovancsek]

I would put these everywhere if I had more land. I love the look and how fast they grow and the seed sprout really fast 

[palmfriend]

That is indeed a spectacular looking palm! 

Thank you for posting!

Lars

 

[realarch]

Ha John, you just can’t help yourself germinating seed. Welcome to the club!

Tim 

[Kim]

Perfect growing, Tim! Awesome specimens!

2 out of 3 survived volcanic eruption disruption in my garden, and continue to improve. Blue sky this morning demanded photos. 

We 

[realarch]

Maturing nicely. Putting out lots of ‘horns’ nowadays.

Tim

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

For those familiar with both, what is your opinion of Socratea species and which do you prefer, Socratea or Iriartea?

[realarch]

Jerry, even though the two are closely related, they are such different palms. Both are special plants to me, especially after seeing them in habit.. Socratea is more diminutive in every respect, with exaggerated stilt roots. Iriartea is robust, beefy, tall, and a much smaller cone of stilt roots. Even the shape and color of the leaves are different. So, to answer your question, I don’t have a preference. 

Tim 

[Makko16]

Never seen this one before either the leaflets are awesome. Thanks for sharing

[realarch]

Couldn’t help myself, the horn shaped spathe finally fell off…….a fountain of flowers. It’s good to look up once in awhile.

Tim

[Brad52]

Hard to believe that this little thing could turn into that in 10 years or so if all goes well!

[John hovancsek]

These are fast growing for me. 

[Kim]

These photos reinforce my desire to plant a few more Iriartea.

Socratea is also beautiful, but a little more difficult to get to mature size - just my very limited experience. The "curly" stilt roots don't hold the palm in a super stable manner when young. Mine toppled quickly and maybe I ought to have staked it? Perhaps I should try again.

[realarch]

Aloha Kim! A spectacular palm for sure with an interesting habit. 

My first Socratea, which came from Bo’s nursery, had one main stilt root in a one gallon pot supporting it. When it was young, stability wasn’t a problem, but new root tips would always dry out and terminate before they could reach the ground. I wrapped the root cone with shade cloth which seemed to help, but only a temporary solution. Eventually it exploded, growth wise,  and finally seemed to establish itself. As it grew taller I noticed it would really hula in strong wind events, so I ended up staking it with guy wires. A pain in the okole to put it nicely. Then one of those hurricane type storms took it out. I was actually kind of glad. Whew…….long winded and I’m not done yet.

A seed from the mother plant came up on it’s own and it’s root cone was well developed even as a seedling. So, what I’m trying to say is plant one out as a seedling, the younger the better might have a better chance long term. I’ll post a pic one of these days. 

When are you back on island? 

Tim

[Kim]

 

On 12/29/2021 at 9:55 AM, realarch said:

When are you back on island? 

Tim

Sent you a PM