Areca vestiaria 'purple form'

[SheriB99]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post and am new to this forum but super excited to be a part of it.  I have a question about one of my palms, specifically areca vestiaria 'purple form'.  I also have the red form as well. The red form I have had for a few years now and the purple form I bought this summer.  Both are from different growers.  Though the purple form is starting to look like the red form.  I have not found any reference material on the purple form so unfortunately I do not have anything to compare it to.  The question being, could this actually be a red form instead of purple or is this what the purple form looks like?  I attached a few pictures of my purple form and my red form for reference.  (The first three pictures are the purple form and the last picture is the red form) Looking forward to hearing from y'all and hope your week is a great one!

Many thanks and best wishes,

Sheri

Zone 10B - FLA.

Edited November 8, 2022 by SheriB99

[Kim]

Areca vestiaria "purple form"? New to me. I grow a few dozen "maroon leaf" which are doubtless the same as "red form." Have you seen a "purple form" in person? Maybe the seller confused the name of the color -- red, maroon, purple? Or a marketing gimmick? I am just speculating. 

[SheriB99]

Hi Kim, thank you for your opinion because I was thinking along those same idea lines, lol. I have never seen a purple form and cannot find a single one on the internet so yes it would lead one to believe that this is truly a red form.  It's still a really pretty one either way 

[Johnny Palmseed]

It’s the same palm. Most red form look more purple or maroon than red. They might be listed as maroon or red depending on the grower. The other form is yellow or orange. Again it depends on the grower and perhaps which color is dominant. 

[bubba]

[The Palm Nut]

The Areca vestiaria "purple form" from my experience may be more cold tolerant.  But as they grow older it's hard if not impossible to tell the difference though the purple form tend to clump much more.  

[bgl]

There seems to be a lot of confusion about different "forms" of Areca vestiaria. If by "form" we mean an identifiable and distinct variety then there are no forms. Genetically they are all one and the same. I have germinated many hundreds, if not thousands, of Areca vestiaria. A single seed batch from just one maroon/red Areca vestiaria will, in my experience, produce about 75-85% maroon/red offspring and the rest will be the "regular" orange. The maroon ones will show color with the very first tiny little new frond and they will keep that color as they grow up. Furthermore, there will be single trunked as well as doubles, triples and quadruples from this one seed batch. Seeds from a "yellow" Areca vestiaria will exclusively produce similar offspring. A maroon seedling from a yellow parent would, in my experience, be something VERY unusual.

[Fishinsteeg234]

Good insight @bgl.  While bringing in some potted plants for protection from incoming hurricane Nicole here in Central Florida, I had a good opportunity to show my “Maroon” A. vestiaria in indoor light. Purchased a year ago from a 4” pot from a local florida nursery. I have also been confused on the difference between red, orange, yellow, maroon varieties I’ve seen described. It sounds like they’re all the same genetically except for a minor color variation in some it appears? I bought mine as a double stem (2 seedlings) but a new offshoot has already developed, confirming a clumping form, labeled as Areca vestiaria “Maroon crownshaft”. 

[Johnny Palmseed]

On 11/8/2022 at 10:49 PM, bgl said:

There seems to be a lot of confusion about different "forms" of Areca vestiaria. If by "form" we mean an identifiable and distinct variety then there are no forms. Genetically they are all one and the same. I have germinated many hundreds, if not thousands, of Areca vestiaria. A single seed batch from just one maroon/red Areca vestiaria will, in my experience, produce about 75-85% maroon/red offspring and the rest will be the "regular" orange. The maroon ones will show color with the very first tiny little new frond and they will keep that color as they grow up. Furthermore, there will be single trunked as well as doubles, triples and quadruples from this one seed batch. Seeds from a "yellow" Areca vestiaria will exclusively produce similar offspring. A maroon seedling from a yellow parent would, in my experience, be something VERY unusual.

That’s good info. I was going to post something like that but didn’t because I have only heard it and not experienced it.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

On 11/9/2022 at 6:44 PM, Fishinsteeg234 said:

Good insight @bgl.  While bringing in some potted plants for protection from incoming hurricane Nicole here in Central Florida, I had a good opportunity to show my “Maroon” A. vestiaria in indoor light. Purchased a year ago from a 4” pot from a local florida nursery. I have also been confused on the difference between red, orange, yellow, maroon varieties I’ve seen described. It sounds like they’re all the same genetically except for a minor color variation in some it appears? I bought mine as a double stem (2 seedlings) but a new offshoot has already developed, confirming a clumping form, labeled as Areca vestiaria “Maroon crownshaft”. 

That is beautiful!   What part of central FL?   How does it grow for you?   Full sun?   Part shade?   What’s your potting mix?   
how did it handle cold?     
 

im asking because I’m about to purchase one myself.   Thanks!   

[Fishinsteeg234]

6 hours ago, DCA_Palm_Fan said:

That is beautiful!   What part of central FL?   How does it grow for you?   Full sun?   Part shade?   What’s your potting mix?   
how did it handle cold?     
 

im asking because I’m about to purchase one myself.   Thanks!   

@DCA_Palm_FanI am located in the NW Orlando area. It’s been one of my best growing potted plants actually. It loves wet feet at all times, and dappled shade under an Oak tree. I keep the top mulched and also sitting in a water dish to hold standing water close to 90% of the time. I take this one inside during anything below 40, but it did see 39 degrees one night this last freeze event with no signs of spotting yet. My yard saw 27,27,32,39 degrees, so all of my potted tropicals got moved in the garage. For potting soil I just used the orange bag MiracleGrow for palms and cactus. With a few handfuls of perlite. Osmocote pink bag for slow release food 3-4x a year. I highly recommend getting one. 

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

40 minutes ago, Fishinsteeg234 said:

@DCA_Palm_FanI am located in the NW Orlando area. It’s been one of my best growing potted plants actually. It loves wet feet at all times, and dappled shade under an Oak tree. I keep the top mulched and also sitting in a water dish to hold standing water close to 90% of the time. I take this one inside during anything below 40, but it did see 39 degrees one night this last freeze event with no signs of spotting yet. My yard saw 27,27,32,39 degrees, so all of my potted tropicals got moved in the garage. For potting soil I just used the orange bag MiracleGrow for palms and cactus. With a few handfuls of perlite. Osmocote pink bag for slow release food 3-4x a year. I highly recommend getting one. 

So beautiful!!!!  Thanks for all of the great info!   I pulled the trigger and got it.   I think it’ll do good for me here in St Pete.   We rarely go below 40 here where I am on the water and the few times it’s happened it’s for like an hour or two at most.  
 

my only worry is that I don’t have tons of shade.   It will get 2-6 hours of full sun each day.   Summer it will probably be 2-3 hours.  Winter 4-6.     We face south so we get a lot of direct sun mornings through 3pm or so in winter.   Summer we get shaded in the mornings by a tree , then in the afternoon the building shadow takes over so we miss most of the fill sun during the hottest parts of the day.   I’ll post a photo of mine when it here here!  

[Cindy Adair]

Welcome to PalmTalk SheriB99!

I have nothing to add to the excellent replies already posted regarding your question, but am happy you have joined us.

Your palms look beautiful!