Phoenix reclinata

[BeyondTheGarden]

I'm just curious why this palm isn't more popular.  It's cousin, Phoenix roebelinii is a dime a dozen and even available for purchase at big box stores across the US.  However, reclinata is (in my opinion) a nicer specimen and is a little more cold tolerant.  I get wanting short palms for certain landscaping applications, but roebelinii are used often used in areas where height is not a limiting factor.  Are the seeds harder to germinate or something?

[TheMadScientist]

Jesse, so many areas we see things the same.  I collected P. Reclinata seeds that I believe were pollinated by P. Roebellenii on 5-27-2022 in Ventura, sown next day and germinated 6-27-2022.  I also collected P. Reclinata seeds that I believe were pollinated by CIDP Nov. 2019 and again germinated in 4 weeks at the San Fernando Superior Courthouse.  I have just been waiting for a weekend day to take photos on this seed donor as the Deputies don't want me taking a device with recording capabilities into the courthouse, so a trip will have to be planned.  I will post both species and all photos soon.

[Xerarch]

47 minutes ago, Jesse PNW said:

I'm just curious why this palm isn't more popular.  It's cousin, Phoenix roebelinii is a dime a dozen and even available for purchase at big box stores across the US.  However, reclinata is (in my opinion) a nicer specimen and is a little more cold tolerant.  I get wanting short palms for certain landscaping applications, but roebelinii are used often used in areas where height is not a limiting factor.  Are the seeds harder to germinate or something?

I agree, wish we could see more of them around, don’t know why they’re not more popular. Actually what I would really like to see a lot more if is Phoenix rupicola wherever the climate could support it, the most tropical looking of the genus. 

[BeyondTheGarden]

@Xerarch I have never seen a Phoenix rupicola except on palmpedia.  

When I was in Orlando and discovered Phoenix reclinata it instantly became my new favorite of the genus.  Afterwards I bought a bunch of seedlings but they're all still small, 1 gal at best.  

[Josue Diaz]

I purchased reclinatas that turned out to be hybrids (probably with canariensis) so you can imagine my surprise when their crowns started getting WAY too big for being pure reclinata. The crowns are the size of canariensis, but with thin trunks. I've seen only one true reclinata in Fresno where I live. 

[Lou-StAugFL]

I really like this palm too,  I have two thirty year plus clumps in my yard.  They've grown beautifully and relatively fast.  My only complaint like most phoenix palms are the thorns, but some reason they do the most damage to me when I am pruning. I'm not sure if it is the angle of the thorns or what.  They grow great here in Florida too,  the only time I have ever seen them damaged in my lifetime was the super freeze event in the 80s and they all came back even after losing all their fronds to the cold.  The temps were well in the teens during that event and killed many Washingtonia palms but the reclinata survived.

[BeyondTheGarden]

@Josue Diaz Have you posted pictures of it before?  I remember someone posting a phoenix hybrid on here that I liked but I can't remember.  

[Josue Diaz]

2 hours ago, Jesse PNW said:

@Josue Diaz Have you posted pictures of it before?  I remember someone posting a phoenix hybrid on here that I liked but I can't remember.  

Here is one next to a beccariophoenix and bismarkia in the background. Hard to get a sense of its size, but that beccariophoenix is over 6 feet tall. The ceramic pot on the front left is 4ft tall. 

[kinzyjr]

These are very trouble-free here.  Once they sucker they are nigh invincible.  The hardy ones are likely hybrids.  Here is my 4-year old, likely hybridized with Phoenix canariensis.

[BeyondTheGarden]

Nice.   @Josue Diaz I like your agaves/aloes/succulents and cacti also.  That Phoenix has a very shuttle-cock shape.  

I got a few hybrid roebelinii x reclinata hybrids from @Scott W, they're seedlings still and I"m looking forward to seeing them when they get big.  I like both roebelinii and reclinata a lot.  

@kinzyjr that's very silver, do you think it could have sylvestris in it?  I saw lots of Phoenix in the greater Orlando area that were unidentifiable (as a singular species), a lot of them had a lot of silver influence.  

[kinzyjr]

@Jesse PNW The choices for mates in the area the seed came from are canariensis, dactylifera, roebelenii, rupicola, and sylvestris.  The closest is canariensis right across the street, but it is certainly possible that it got some sylvestris or dactylifera instead.  One thing I've been impressed by is that it does not get graphiola leaf spot at all.

[ahosey01]

I believe I found one at a local nursery mismarked as a Phoenix canariensis.  Will take a photo tomorrow and post here.

[Phoenikakias]

On 7/20/2022 at 2:48 AM, Josue Diaz said:

Here is one next to a beccariophoenix and bismarkia in the background. Hard to get a sense of its size, but that beccariophoenix is over 6 feet tall. The ceramic pot on the front left is 4ft tall. 

The trunk is already obviously too massive for a pure reclinata.

[Phoenikakias]

But the arrangement of the spines suggest albeit a reclinata ancestry.  I had a similar experience with a purported Phoenix loureiroi. It was a handsome plant with lovely recurving fronds and colorful (yellow) spines. But it had eventually grew fronds way bigger than a pure loureiroi would grow.  Though I was very fond of it, I had it removed and planted in Jubaeopsis in that spot.

This was the loureiroi hybrid:

Edited July 21, 2022 by Phoenikakias