Callus muelleri in habitat

[happypalms]

A fairly common palm in the dark thick understory of the rainforest. I came across a few of these today on a walk in the rainforest quite abundant with plenty of seedlings around, and some large clumps of strangling vines clawing there way into the canopy. Today was the closest I have ever been to finding seeds with a few small seeds starting to set. Of all the years I have been looking for seeds I finally know where a few might be if I can beat the birds to them. 

[Phoenikakias]

My favorite Calamus! R U sure those are fruit and not just buds of male flowers?

[Jonathan]

Your mission Richard, should you choose to accept it is to secure those seeds...so get back out there and bag them up! 

On a serious note, and we've discussed this previously, but never answered it satisfactorily, why are they so infrequently, ie never,  available...applies to all Calamus spp really?

[happypalms]

22 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

My favorite Calamus! R U sure those are fruit and not just buds of male flowers?

I wouldn’t have a clue but iam taking it there seeds setting. I have never in all my years wondering around the bush seen any flowers or seeds (And I have been a wondering trust me) 

[happypalms]

12 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Your mission Richard, should you choose to accept it is to secure those seeds...so get back out there and bag them up! 

On a serious note, and we've discussed this previously, but never answered it satisfactorily, why are they so infrequently, ie never,  available...applies to all Calamus spp really?

I accept your mission and a I will crawl over any obstacle to get them including the thorny vines themselves. Good question as to why you never see but there out there by the look of new plants all over the place. Possibly they need light to flower and set seeds, hence the rambling through up into canopy where we would never see them. Or the birds get them. Iam no botanist but it’s a good one to do a thesis on that’s for sure. 

[Phoenikakias]

1 hour ago, happypalms said:

I accept your mission and a I will crawl over any obstacle to get them including the thorny vines themselves. Good question as to why you never see but there out there by the look of new plants all over the place. Possibly they need light to flower and set seeds, hence the rambling through up into canopy where we would never see them. Or the birds get them. Iam no botanist but it’s a good one to do a thesis on that’s for sure. 

Must be true explanation, because my caryotoides had started blooming frequently as soon as it had climbed over the protective canopy.

[tim_brissy_13]

14 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Your mission Richard, should you choose to accept it is to secure those seeds...so get back out there and bag them up! 

On a serious note, and we've discussed this previously, but never answered it satisfactorily, why are they so infrequently, ie never,  available...applies to all Calamus spp really?

I suspect it might be lack of demand. As you know, I’m a full blown palm nut but even I can’t really considering growing Calamus sp in my garden or even seedlings in pots with kids and dogs. I suspect most people of here are the same let alone the general public so they’re never likely to be on offer at a nursery. I really would like to grow them from a curiosity point of view but life gets in the way. They certainly have a place in botanical collections and forests like yours though! I’d guess C muelleri might do ok for you along with C caryotoides and a couple of the other cold hardy sp. 

[Phoenikakias]

1 minute ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

I suspect it might be lack of demand. As you know, I’m a full blown palm nut but even I can’t really considering growing Calamus sp in my garden or even seedlings in pots with kids and dogs. I suspect most people of here are the same let alone the general public so they’re never likely to be on offer at a nursery. I really would like to grow them from a curiosity point of view but life gets in the way. They certainly have a place in botanical collections and forests like yours though! I’d guess C muelleri might do ok for you along with C caryotoides and a couple of the other cold hardy sp. 

Which other cold hardy spp, moti, radicalis and australis perhaps?

[tim_brissy_13]

6 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Which other cold hardy spp, moti, radicalis and australis perhaps?

Possibly, not sure how much they’ve really been tested. Some of the Asian species come from high elevation too like C klossii recorded up to 2800mm in New Guinea. 

[Jonathan]

8 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

I suspect it might be lack of demand. As you know, I’m a full blown palm nut but even I can’t really considering growing Calamus sp in my garden or even seedlings in pots with kids and dogs. I suspect most people of here are the same let alone the general public so they’re never likely to be on offer at a nursery. I really would like to grow them from a curiosity point of view but life gets in the way. They certainly have a place in botanical collections and forests like yours though! I’d guess C muelleri might do ok for you along with C caryotoides and a couple of the other cold hardy sp. 

I think you could fit a few C radicalis in your garden Tim...though you may need to call the fire brigade to rescue the kids every now and then!

I know what you're saying is true but also suspect that there are enough maniacs like me  with larger properties who would love to give it a crack if they were available.

Of the Aus species I've seen in habitat, muelleri and caryotoides seem comparatively benign, radicalis, moti and australis are absolute beasts...even if I could grow them, I'd be cautious.

Having said that, I imagine they might be less rampant and easier to control outside of the tropics, would be a fun experiment.

[Jonathan]

8 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Which other cold hardy spp, moti, radicalis and australis perhaps?

It would be interesting to test them - australis distribution extends a bit further south and to higher elevation (1600m, Dowe) than the other two, but who knows? Given it's range, australis should be, on paper at least, as hardy as caryotoides, but as Tim mentioned, it's untested. 

[Phoenikakias]

45 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

It would be interesting to test them - australis distribution extends a bit further south and to higher elevation (1600m, Dowe) than the other two, but who knows? Given it's range, australis should be, on paper at least, as hardy as caryotoides, but as Tim mentioned, it's untested. 

One australis in my cold frame has grown quite tall (at man's height) and produced also an offshoot.

[Tyrone]

I’ve got one little C muelleri in my collection still small in a pot in my shadehouse. About 20 years ago I grew about 100 Calamus moti and sold them to a palm nursery in Perth and they grew and people bought them. I wonder if any are still alive. Calamus are a majorly underrated genus as are all the other rattans. But with peoples backyards getting smaller and water getting scarcer, it’s much easier and less painful to bang in a few golden canes palms on your boundary than say a Calamus radicalis which wants to grow over your clothes line, over your outdoor kitchen setting etc, if you can keep it alive in beach sand. 

[TropicsEnjoyer]

After reading this post I went and did a bit of research on Calamus spp. Very interesting and under appreciated palms! Thorny vine palm is something I wouldn’t have imagined, especially the “flagella” they use to grab onto other trees. Hopefully these become more popular. 

Also, I got confused for a sec when I looked up “callus” haha

[happypalms]

7 hours ago, Tyrone said:

I’ve got one little C muelleri in my collection still small in a pot in my shadehouse. About 20 years ago I grew about 100 Calamus moti and sold them to a palm nursery in Perth and they grew and people bought them. I wonder if any are still alive. Calamus are a majorly underrated genus as are all the other rattans. But with peoples backyards getting smaller and water getting scarcer, it’s much easier and less painful to bang in a few golden canes palms on your boundary than say a Calamus radicalis which wants to grow over your clothes line, over your outdoor kitchen setting etc, if you can keep it alive in beach sand. 

Get it in the ground asap they are tolerant of cool conditions. Ever since those garden makeover shows that started appearing on television, it has become all about water saving plants and true die hard landscaping plants. Nurseries have pushed for tough plants that are eas6 to propagate and don’t die after being sold. The non public gardeners have no idea they purchase plants from such nurseries and plant them and go wow my new garden only took 3 years to grow look at how good it is. A tropical palm garden takes at 15 to 20 years to look like those garden make over, new home gardens that take 3 years to grow. Look at @tim_brissy_13 his garden is a good example of what time will yield, a beautiful garden over time. New home owner gardens and garden makeovers just don’t cut it for me. This is one reason why it’s difficult to sell super rare tropical exotics to a main stream nursery it’s all about customer satisfaction and the customers coming back to a nursery that sold them  plants that haven’t died. Sell a Joey to a new home owner and they will most likely plant it in full sun down by the road with a vision of a bangalow palm. It’s all about repeat customers this is why you don’t see calmus palms for sale. Supply and demand and the public demand plants that are common generic dime a dozen that they pay huge prices for not knowing any difference. This is one reason why I grow golden canes you just simply have to otherwise the customer walks away. They need to be educated but not everyone is a gardener and iam no rocket scientist so each to their own. 

[happypalms]

4 hours ago, TropicsEnjoyer said:

After reading this post I went and did a bit of research on Calamus spp. Very interesting and under appreciated palms! Thorny vine palm is something I wouldn’t have imagined, especially the “flagella” they use to grab onto other trees. Hopefully these become more popular. 

Also, I got confused for a sec when I looked up “callus” haha

Not everyone likes thorns but I see the beauty in the danger or is it the danger in the beauty, either way if planted in the right location plants with dangerous attributes have a place in the garden. Look at the oleander tree absolutely poisonous but they were once so common and a beautiful tree in flower but the deadly nature pushed it out of cultivation. If you even touch the flagella they grab you and the more you try to get away the more you get caught. Don’t muck with a calmus species they bite big time. 

[happypalms]

10 hours ago, Jonathan said:

I think you could fit a few C radicalis in your garden Tim...though you may need to call the fire brigade to rescue the kids every now and then!

I know what you're saying is true but also suspect that there are enough maniacs like me  with larger properties who would love to give it a crack if they were available.

Of the Aus species I've seen in habitat, muelleri and caryotoides seem comparatively benign, radicalis, moti and australis are absolute beasts...even if I could grow them, I'd be cautious.

Having said that, I imagine they might be less rampant and easier to control outside of the tropics, would be a fun experiment.

Yer cmon Tim let the little kiddies find out plant a few next to the swing. Iam sure mum will be thrilled at one of life’s lessons to learn as a kid. Like when my niece grabbed the bactris gassipaes in my garden, even her doctor in Sydney wanted to know what the palm species was. Well we may have to operate he said if they don’t heal up thankfully they did.