Is this a Livistona benthamii?

[Alberto]

[Phoenikakias]

I think a well watered decora

[Alberto]

Australians,  what's your opinion?

[Jonathan]

It's a tricky one Alberto...my gut reaction was drudei when I  first looked at it last night, but I'm  not confident about that.

[tropicbreeze]

I'd be inclined to think drudei, but not benthamii.

[Scott W]

Here's Livistona benthamii at Fairchild Gardens, maybe it will help.  The leaf base remnants on the lower trunk look much different than the picture you posted Alberto.

 

[tim_brissy_13]

Honestly I struggle to identify the deeply split leaved Livistona. If I walked past this palm I’d be confident it was L decora just because it is by far the most common of these similar looking palms in cultivation. What’s the background behind this palm Alberto? I’d suggest close ups of inflorescence detail will help ID (although that may be difficult). 

[Jonathan]

1 hour ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Honestly I struggle to identify the deeply split leaved Livistona. If I walked past this palm I’d be confident it was L decora just because it is by far the most common of these similar looking palms in cultivation. What’s the background behind this palm Alberto? I’d suggest close ups of inflorescence detail will help ID (although that may be difficult). 

Tim, the main reason I was thinking drudei is the slenderness of the trunk and the leaves mostly held above horizontal. I remember seeing drudei and decora both growing around the  Townsville area and thinking they were quite different...drudei just seemed a little more elegant perhaps.

These attributes could just as easily be influenced by growing conditions too...so it's a very touchy-feely identification!

[happypalms]

Iam throwing my money on Livistona Australis gotta support the Australian team!

[Jonathan]

11 hours ago, happypalms said:

Iam throwing my money on Livistona Australis gotta support the Australian team!

Hope you're not a gambling man,  cause you just lost the lot!

[Alberto]

2 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Hope you're not a gambling man,  cause you just lost the lot!

😀

[Alberto]

20 hours ago, Scott W said:

Here's Livistona benthamii at Fairchild Gardens, maybe it will help.  The leaf base remnants on the lower trunk look much different than the picture you posted Alberto.

 

Yes, clearly not the trunk of my palm!

[happypalms]

6 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Hope you're not a gambling man,  cause you just lost the lot!

Yer I know I was sticking up for team Australia not for the palm in question with leaf bases  holding on like that you could climb up the palm with 🤣

[mike in kurtistown]

I have found this discussion interesting, as I became interested in Aussie Livs when I lived in central Florida and couldn't grow many tropical species. Now I live in Hawaii, Pinanga and Areca country, but I still retain some interest in the Livs. Many years ago, one of my Florida palm colleagues found a tree that probably originated as seed from Inge Hoffman and was ID'd somehow as L. benthamii.  The tree was not quite "functionally dioecious" and produced many seeds. One matured for my colleague and produced seed that I acquired and have grown into mature and growing trees, one of which has produced seeds in the absence of any other nearby mature Livs. Here is a pic of that tree:

Here are three smaller ones:

Here is a leaf detail:

I don't have any decoras or australis, but I have a couple of drudeis (mentioned in some posts), seed provided by the same colleague, original seeds said to be from either Inge or PACSOA (he claims to be pretty certain of the ID). It is not in a good place for a photo, but this is the best I could do yesterday:

Hope this helps.

[greysrigging]

I have a benthamii about the same size as the Livistona in the OP ( which isn't a benthamii, but then again I struggle identifying Livistona species.
They are endemic in the Darwin region and grow in similar habitat as Carpentaria palms
Holmes Jungle, Darwin:

[Jonathan]

4 hours ago, greysrigging said:

I have a benthamii about the same size as the Livistona in the OP ( which isn't a benthamii, but then again I struggle identifying Livistona species.
They are endemic in the Darwin region and grow in similar habitat as Carpentaria palms
Holmes Jungle, Darwin:

They look like they may have been used as a fruit bat roost...a bit abused!

Pretty cool though, thanks for posting that, we don't get to see too many NT palm habitat pics.