One of my Syagrus kellyana is dropping large seeds

July 14, 2021

Syagrus kellyana was described and named about a dozen years ago as a new species. A few years later a group of us PTers pooled funds to buy and share the expensive seeds. I have two palms in my Garden Lot from that venture. They have flowered for the past several years but each time aborted the seeds before they ripened. This year one of my kellyanas has followed through and is now dropping very large yellow fruit that I hope will yield fertile seeds.

Syagrus kellyana is shorter, stockier and slower growing than the ubiquitous queen palm. It has lush dark green plumose fronds. The really good thing from my view is that this Syagrus species has shown no sign of infection by the fusarium wilt that destroyed my queens, mules and Washy. I don't know the status of other S. kellyanas in the US and whether they have produced seeds yet.The seeds are below eye level with me so I can easily see them. The fruit is 3x the size of queen fruit and are a buff yellow color. The seeds are 2x the size of queen seeds. It looks like I may ultimately get 2-3 dozen seeds from this palm if they ripen as I hope. Like the related coconut, this palm aborts much of its crop. From what I can tell this Syagrus has great potential as a medium size landscape palm.

Syagrus kellyana with seeds, 2021, Cape Coral, FL