Big Chrysalidocarpus Mystery - 1 time seed offering

[Hilo Jason]

This big mystery Chrysalidocarpus in my Hilo garden has set seed and I am offering it for sale just this one time!  Reason being is I am selling this house and closing escrow this Friday, so this will be the only time I can offer this seed for sale.  I am thankful the seed was ripe in time to pick it, and am happy about the idea of this palm getting out into more gardens. 
 

This palm has been posted a lot here on palmtalk and it’s always a favorite when people visit the garden.  It has been an extremely fast grower, going from a 4” pot to what you see below in under 7 years.  If I had to describe it, I would say it’s like a Chrysalidocarpus Ambositrae on steroids and much more colorful. 
 

Seed is $0.75 each with a minimum of 50. Shipping will be an additional $10 for flat rate priority mail. US only.  Direct message me for orders and payment info. 
 

 

Some more info / fine print:

There has been talk of this palm being a hybrid and it very well could be. This is the second batch of seed and I waited to offer these to check germination on the first batch.  Germination rates were very high on my first batch and I even ended up with volunteers sprouting at the base of the palm.  That said, I cannot guarantee that these seeds will grow into an identical match of this parent plant. There are many mysteries with Chrysalidocarpus (formerly Dypsis) and this is one of them. All I know is that this seed does indeed sprout and seems to grow fairly quickly once sprouted.  I’m sure these will produce incredible plants regardless of what they end up looking like so take a chance and get in on this one time offering. 

[JosefS]

hi there message sent!

[Hilo Jason]

Wow, the response for these has been amazing. I am responding in order of messages received.  So if you have messaged me, look for that soon. I don’t want to oversell these so I will confirm availability with you all directly as I clean and count them today. 

[Cbigler]

I am interested in 100 seeds. 

[FallbrookMike]

Interested if still available

[Hilo Jason]

Thank you to everyone who ordered these, they are all sold.  

[uopalms]

Do you still have some of these available? I'll take 100.

[Hilo Jason]

Back in September when I made this seed available here, I threw a handful in some small community pots and just saw today that many are sprouting. I’ve heard from a couple of you that bought these from me that you are getting excellent germination. Thanks for the feedback! 
 

Very excited to see what these grow into, hopefully they look like the parent plant. 
 

[JD in the OC]

Very nice Chrysalidocarpus.  Glad to see seedlings are popping.  In my experience, Chrysalidocarpus and Dypsis hybrids do not produce viable seed all on their own.  In rare cases, they produce a few seedlings when they get donor pollen from neighboring palms.  So, this is likely a pure (undescribed) species.

Keep up the good work!

JD

[Jdash]

@JD in the OCI've so far have seen two hybrid  xMahajanga produce many viable seeds, that being said, not sure if it's due to donor pollen or not. 

cheers

[JD in the OC]

Jdash,

Interesting. Do you know the progeny of the xMahajanga palms? 

JD

[Jdash]

@JD in the OC viable seeds would be F2s

F1 mothers: pembana, cabadae.

naturegirl has the pembana hybrids

[IHB1979]

I was gifted a Chrysalidocarpus madagascariensis (Mahajanga form) x Chrysalidocarpus cabadae palm 10 years ago from a local palm guru. The palm flowers and seeds germinate but they seem to take longer to pop than normal. Seeing all the trait variations within a tray of these seedlings is pretty cool. 

[JD in the OC]

I have three seeding Chrysalidocarpus hybrids that i created myself.  They have all flowered several times and none of them produce their own viable seed.  Nor does Foxy Lady when it flowers.  So i personally believe (based on 20 years of working with non-cocosoid palm hybrids) that they do not produce their own F2 seed. Thus any Chrysalidocarpus, Dypsis, or Wodyetia that produces 70-100% viable seed repeatedly is likely a pure species.  Conversely, if you research Canna hybrids which have been around since 1773, they do produce hybrid offspring that are fertile as long as the genes are close enough in the parents, i.e. parents both come from same region.  Canna hybrids created from inter-continental species typically do not produce offspring that make fertile seeds.  So, there's a chance that Chrysalidocarpus hybrids with closely related parents and in close proximity en situ COULD produce viable seed on their own.

JD 

[IHB1979]

  On 12/7/2024 at 9:22 PM, JD in the OC said:

I have three seeding Chrysalidocarpus hybrids that i created myself.  They have all flowered several times and none of them produce their own viable seed.  Nor does Foxy Lady when it flowers.  So i personally believe (based on 20 years of working with non-cocosoid palm hybrids) that they do not produce their own F2 seed. Thus any Chrysalidocarpus, Dypsis, or Wodyetia that produces 70-100% viable seed repeatedly is likely a pure species.  Conversely, if you research Canna hybrids which have been around since 1773, they do produce hybrid offspring that are fertile as long as the genes are close enough in the parents, i.e. parents both come from same region.  Canna hybrids created from inter-continental species typically do not produce offspring that make fertile seeds.  So, there's a chance that Chrysalidocarpus hybrids with closely related parents and in close proximity en situ COULD produce viable seed on their own.

JD 

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Simply trying to understand here. Your three personally created Chrysalidocarpus hybrids with zero germination rate of seeds and 20 years of experience confirms the palm I have is a pure Chrysalidocarpus and not a hybrid? 

[Fishinsteeg234]

  On 12/1/2024 at 1:32 AM, Hilo Jason said:

Back in September when I made this seed available here, I threw a handful in some small community pots and just saw today that many are sprouting. I’ve heard from a couple of you that bought these from me that you are getting excellent germination. Thanks for the feedback! 
 

Very excited to see what these grow into, hopefully they look like the parent plant. 
 

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@Hilo Jason just an update on some more successful germination over here in Central Florida. Looking forward to seeing what these grow up to be. Thanks again for the seeds! 
 

[Hilo Jason]

  On 12/19/2024 at 6:04 PM, Fishinsteeg234 said:

@Hilo Jason just an update on some more successful germination over here in Central Florida. Looking forward to seeing what these grow up to be. Thanks again for the seeds! 
 

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Thanks for the update!  Great to see them sprouting 

[Hilo Jason]

I just separated my seedlings from their community pot and put them in 4” pots. Hope everyone who got this seed from me is having good growth. These seem to be fast and pretty tough. 

and here’s one from the previous flower so this one is a few months older:

 

[Billeb]

@Hilo Jason, I didn’t get that good germination rate on these and my seedlings are much smaller than yours. @Palmiz & I are experiencing the same result here in CA. They must really like the warmth you and @Fishinsteeg234 are able to give them. It’s been gray and gloomy for months on end here. 
 

-dale 

[iDesign]

@Billeb - @Hilo Jason was kind enough to sell me some seeds back in December, and I split them into 4 groups...

1) Outside, in Community Pot / Light soil & Perlite
2) Indoors, in Seed Tray with humidity Dome / On a heat mat / Light soil & Perlite
3) Indoors in Baggie, no bottom heat / Spag moss
4) Indoors in Baggie, on heat mat / Spag moss

I'm seeing three sprouts in the #4 group, and nothing in the others. Interestingly, that particular bag has 1/2 of the bag on the heat mat directly and the other half is leaning on another bag... and the three sprouts are showing up on the side that's sitting on the heat mat directly. So perhaps these seeds do indeed love heat?

I am horrible at sprouting seeds, so take all this with a grain of salt... but I thought I'd pass along my observations in case it's helpful. I'm really tempted to move more of them to the #4 setup, in case that's indeed the best setup for these (unless it's a bad idea to switch at this point?).

[Jdash]

@iDesign I've gotten about 90% germination rate from the same batch, indoor sterilite container 70/30 coco/perlite on heat mat. you could always resoak and then move them over. 

[Fishinsteeg234]

@iDesign I agree with @Jdash it’s not too late to move the seeds to bottom heat and I use the same setup as Jdash. Homemade germination box with high heat and humidity. Heating pad and some standing water at the bottom to keep the whole box damp, lid slightly open for ventilation. I also use a grow light incase I need to keep the community pots growing through winter. I’ve trialed and compared other methods without heat, but heat has always resulted in significantly better germination for me. 
 

here’s more good info: 

https://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/A_Primer_On_Germinating_Palm_Seeds

 

[Hilo Jason]

  On 2/27/2025 at 6:11 PM, iDesign said:

@Billeb - @Hilo Jason was kind enough to sell me some seeds back in December, and I split them into 4 groups...

1) Outside, in Community Pot / Light soil & Perlite
2) Indoors, in Seed Tray with humidity Dome / On a heat mat / Light soil & Perlite
3) Indoors in Baggie, no bottom heat / Spag moss
4) Indoors in Baggie, on heat mat / Spag moss

I'm seeing three sprouts in the #4 group, and nothing in the others. Interestingly, that particular bag has 1/2 of the bag on the heat mat directly and the other half is leaning on another bag... and the three sprouts are showing up on the side that's sitting on the heat mat directly. So perhaps these seeds do indeed love heat?

I am horrible at sprouting seeds, so take all this with a grain of salt... but I thought I'd pass along my observations in case it's helpful. I'm really tempted to move more of them to the #4 setup, in case that's indeed the best setup for these (unless it's a bad idea to switch at this point?).

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I was just wondering how these were doing for you. Nice to hear some are sprouting and hopefully more do as well. 
 

And to clarify @iDesign got some of my “Golden Solitary” Lutescens seed from me. Not this mystery one. But for me, both of those have sprouted pretty quickly here. 

[Deej]

I had great germination with mine, and some are starting on their second leaf. I’m in key west so they are getting plenty of warmth despite being winter time here.