The King Kong Palm, Does anybody have a picture of this palm.

[carmen]

Last week I went to the sale at the USF Botanical Gardens.  I met Steve from Exotic Palms who used to be in Homestead and is now living in Crystal River.  I bought a few palms from him but one in particular he said that it was unique because there was one at Universal Studios that is called the King Kong Palm.  I would love to see a picture of it.  

Carmen

[Tracy]

7 hours ago, carmen said:

Last week I went to the sale at the USF Botanical Gardens.  I met Steve from Exotic Palms who used to be in Homestead and is now living in Crystal River.  I bought a few palms from him but one in particular he said that it was unique because there was one at Universal Studios that is called the King Kong Palm.  I would love to see a picture of it.  

Carmen

I have heard people use this as a common name for Caryota obtusa in the past, also called the giant fishtail palm.  I don't have recent photos on my phone to share but you can do a search for them in the forum for discussing pal. Trees and will find plenty of photos of Caryota obtusa.   An older synonym is also Caryota gigas,  which was the name used when I got mine over 20 years ago.  It is important to be aware that this genus is monocarpic, or dies after flowering.

[Palmarum]

14 hours ago, carmen said:

... I bought a few palms from him but one in particular he said that it was unique because there was one at Universal Studios that is called the King Kong Palm. ...

Did the palm come with a binomial name on a tag? It sounds like a Giant Fishtail but the scientific name could confirm it.

Ryan

[kinzyjr]

On 6/17/2024 at 10:18 PM, carmen said:

Last week I went to the sale at the USF Botanical Gardens.  I met Steve from Exotic Palms who used to be in Homestead and is now living in Crystal River.  I bought a few palms from him but one in particular he said that it was unique because there was one at Universal Studios that is called the King Kong Palm.  I would love to see a picture of it.  

Carmen

From what I'd heard at the Summer CFPACS Meeting, Steve Stern moved his nursery (Exotic Palms) to that area. 

On PlantAnt, the nursery is still listed at the Homestead address:

https://www.plantant.com/nursery-availability/1005644/steve-stern-s-exotic-palms

 

A quick internet search yielded a different address in Inglis, north of Crystal River:

 

You'll probably have better luck calling and asking or messaging on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/p/Exotic-Palms-100048677534289/?_rdr

[RiverCityRichard]

My Caryota Gigas is more like Diddy Kong. Picked it up in April from MB Palms in Orlando and it went straight in the ground. Since then steadily been pushing a new spear. Heard they were slow to get established then take off into giants 

[Joe palma]

In So Cal, King Kong is a very common name for Caryota gigas/obtusa.

[ahosey01]

Keep in mind this thing will turn into a gargantuan, rock hard totem pole, then flower and die.  They’re awesome - but make sure that’s what you want lol