Hyophorbe amaricaulis in Mauritius

[Justin]

Slowly but surely getting around to posting some of the more interesting things from my trip to Socotra, UAE, Seychelles, and Mauritius.  At/near the top of the list, the (hopefully not) last Hyophorbe amaricaulis on earth, in the central portion of Mauritius.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

It looks beautiful and it's very unique, are these recent photos?

[spike]

Apologies for the stupid question  but I'm pretty sure someone has to have thought of taking pollen and crossing it with another hyophorbe. Has anyone, and has it worked? 

[Justin]

9 hours ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

It looks beautiful and it's very unique, are these recent photos?

The photos are from late May, so recent-ish.

[Justin]

8 hours ago, spike said:

Apologies for the stupid question  but I'm pretty sure someone has to have thought of taking pollen and crossing it with another hyophorbe. Has anyone, and has it worked? 

Not entirely sure, but people have been trying almost everything, with limited success as I hear it.

[ruskinPalms]

Do these self pollinate? Has this specimen ever produced viable seeds?

[Justin]

1 hour ago, ruskinPalms said:

Do these self pollinate? Has this specimen ever produced viable seeds?

Others can probably speak to this better than I, but my understanding is that there have not been any viable seeds as of yet.

[ruskinPalms]

1 hour ago, Justin said:

Others can probably speak to this better than I, but my understanding is that there have not been any viable seeds as of yet.

That is interesting for sure. I’m pretty sure bottles and spindles make plenty of fertile seed with just one palm. I guess this one is different and probably why (part of the reason anyway) it is about to go extinct; it just isn’t a robust reproducer.