Is this Howea forsteriana?

[Looking Glass]

I’ve noticed these palms at Houston’s, on Atlantic here in the Fort Lauderdale area, many times over the years.  It been there at least 5+ years…. Perhaps 10+.  

It’s in a very shady spot in the intercostal waterway.   I noticed for the first time today (haven’t been there in 2+ years) that there are now a handful of small volunteers around them now.   

I think this is a Kentia/ Howea forsteriana???   Am I wrong?  This would be a very rare palm around South Florida, if it is.   

 

You can see, wherever the sun touches it, it fries.   

Edited September 10, 2022 by Looking Glass

[TheMadScientist]

Yes, for sure, this is Howea F.  If you click on this Palmpedia link, you will see much nicer photos than the single one I have taken.  I was merely documenting the 3 colors of ripening seeds (green, yellow & red)  and zoomed into the crown location.  These have a wide variety of uses: outside full sun, outside protected, malls indoors, home use.  With this one shaded so much,  it's not as used to full sun effects.  The one you can see in the following link, listed near the bottom with "unripe seeds" in Ventura is one I visit each trip and has NO sun burn.

http://www.palmpedia.net/palmsforcal/Howea_forsteriana

Edited September 10, 2022 by TheMadScientist

[Jim in Los Altos]

Definitely Howea forsteriana but they typically don’t flower until they’re a bit taller and older. Since they are continuously fruiting year round, you’d see unripened fruit on that palm. Fruit takes up to two years to ripen. Nice specimen.

[Looking Glass]

I though it might be.  Usually these are a “no grow” here, but the ones that can survive, I think, have to stay completely out of the Florida sun down here.  This would be the first one I’ve seen in person, as far as I know.   There are a bunch of small ones under it.   Maybe someone is sticking more in there then?   I’ve been going to the restaurant for 14 years, forgot when I first noticed these there, but there’s been no major landscaping I know of in that time.  

If fruit ever appears, landscape crew will chop it off to simplify clean up, I’d bet.  

Edited September 11, 2022 by Looking Glass

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

If fruit ever appears, landscape crew will chop it off to simplify clean up, I’d bet.

As Jim pointed out above, you do have to be patient for the seeds on these to ripen.  I have never had any volunteers on mine.  They take full coastal sun here in California where they can be used for canopy.  I planted the ones below about 25 years ago at my home in Carlsbad.

[Looking Glass]

19 minutes ago, Tracy said:

As Jim pointed out above, you do have to be patient for the seeds on these to ripen.  I have never had any volunteers on mine.  They take full coastal sun here in California where they can be used for canopy.  I planted the ones below about 25 years ago at my home in Carlsbad.

I love the look of these, with the droopy, relaxed fronds.   I wouldn’t dare try one here though.  I remember the ones there as much shorter.  They once totally blocked the parking lot view in that corner.  Perhaps some forward thinker is growing up some more, underneath, as you can start to see through them now in that direction as they track skyward now.  

Still, I wonder, what palm-lover would do this there, and where they would even find the little ones to plant around here.  It’s not a palm I’ve ever seen in these parts, though I hear there are a few out there, and some available from shade houses in Miami.  

[Jim in Los Altos]

1 hour ago, Looking Glass said:

I love the look of these, with the droopy, relaxed fronds.   I wouldn’t dare try one here though.  I remember the ones there as much shorter.  They once totally blocked the parking lot view in that corner.  Perhaps some forward thinker is growing up some more, underneath, as you can start to see through them now in that direction as they track skyward now.  

Still, I wonder, what palm-lover would do this there, and where they would even find the little ones to plant around here.  It’s not a palm I’ve ever seen in these parts, though I hear there are a few out there, and some available from shade houses in Miami.  

I have a dozen of them in my coastal valley location and they take some sun here like this one in my front yard in the photo but they still look better in the shade. Their green trunks are attractive too. 

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Jim in Los Altos

[bubba]

Howia fosteriana are magnificent palms but very difficult in humid/hot Florida. They can be grown here and can come close to flourishing but require constant care and love (Breaker’s has numerous Hf’s that look great but in highly shaded areas). 
 

None in Florida will ever approach Jim’s pictured above (Jim, your climate must be Lord Howe like).

[Jim in Los Altos]

5 hours ago, bubba said:

Howia fosteriana are magnificent palms but very difficult in humid/hot Florida. They can be grown here and can come close to flourishing but require constant care and love (Breaker’s has numerous Hf’s that look great but in highly shaded areas). 
 

None in Florida will ever approach Jim’s pictured above (Jim, your climate must be Lord Howe like).

Here’s an accurate description of my temperatures and rainfall. No temperatures below 33°F in fifteen years (2007). 

[Looking Glass]

40 minutes ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

Here’s an accurate description of my temperatures and rainfall. No temperatures below 33°F in fifteen years (2007). 
 

Man, those nights.   40s and 50s at night year round.   I think it’s the hot nights that murder a lot of hard to grow palms here, like the big Dypsis.  They just seem to stop growing and melt in the summer.   Last week, the night lows were around 85F.