Telling apart the less common 'king' palms

I have 4 species of Archontophoenix in the yard, all about the same size, and except for the true king palms (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) they look somewhat similar. 'True' King palms have skinny leaves by comparison and are lime green and have no bloom whatsoever on the undersides of the leaves, so no problem telling them apart. They are otherwise quite less striking and attractive than these other 3 I have... but I guess they are the most cold hardy and that may be why they are sold by the gazillions, and the other 3 are completely unobtainable through common nurseries. The growth rate for all 4 species seems about the same.

But just in case anyone else out there has some of the other Archontophoenix, I just thought this might help tell them apart (pretrunking that is).

Archontophoenix myolensis is a beautiful palm and makes a turqouisy crownshaft and deeply ringed, stepped trunks like A alexandrae (which, unfortunately I don't have to aid in this comparison). Mine are years from making a crownshaft, though, and sort of look like the others. But the undersides of the leaves have just a hint of white on them.

This is A tuckeri, which has more markedly white undersides to the leaves.

And last, but certainly not least, is A purpurea, which has nearly pure white undersides to the leaves... it is a beatiful seedling! Hope it survives to make an adult here. I have multiple plants of each species and all are consistently similar with respect to the leaf color.

Great thanks for the pics...I think that I have a couple of A. Alexandrae but mine are significantly smaller than the one you showed. Would I still be able to tell when the palm is only 6-10" with 2-3 leaves?

Also, how often do you water those and how much sun do they get?

Not sure how long it will take that species to look different than others. Never had one. I water these 2-3x a week. The get minimal sun since they are agains the north side of the house, though for a month there, they did get a lot of direct sun, and some burned a bit.

While we're on the subject, are there any visible differences between the "true" king palm (A. cunninghamiana) and the so-called "cold hardy king palm" (A. cunninghamiana Illawara)? What exactly does one look for?

Beautiful. Never heard about others than Cunninghamiana and Alexandrae. Hope I will see them one day live and hopefully be able to buy them, too.
Why is the first the true King Palm? Thought this term comes from King Alexander the ancient Emperor and that´s why MY King is the Alexandrae ;-)

I call A cunninghammiana the 'true' king as that is the species we call King Palm here in the US, but in Australia, they call it the Piccabean palm, and A alexandrae is the King palm... not sure why the difference. The reason I say 'true' king palms is often any Archontophoenix is refered to as a king palm.

A. Alexandrae has thicker frond and a yellow crownshaft.

Palmbob, how old are the palms in the photos?

These I got as seedlings when they were a year old, and that was 2 years ago... so a bit over 3 years old. All still have no trunk but are about 3-4' tall.

Palmbob,

I bought some kind of Archontophoenix sp. at a local plant sale.. It differs from the normal king palms I have planted in my yard (from Target).. The 'normal' ones have fuzzy petioles, whereas this one's petioles are completely smooth, like a Kentia. Any idea what it might be? I will get a picture of it and post it later on.

Here's a photo of the unknown palm.

Hmmm... looks sort of spindly...is there any white to the undersides of the leaves? Could be A alexandrae... or else not a king (very skinny trunk!)

Nope, they are completely green.. If it's not an Archontophoenix, any guesses on what it might be?

This message was edited Oct 22, 2006 5:28 PM

Could it be Dypsis baronii?

What might this be? The beginnings of an inflorescence?

yes- sure looks like it (though out of focus)

You think it might be D. baronii?

Palmbob,

I have a 2 gallon Archontophoenix Maxima that I am going to plant out next spring. Do you have any experience with this plant? What do you know of it?

I have not found it a lot different in any cultivational respects to any other king palm... but the one I had had the most incredible red leaves (almost Chambeyronia-like)... however, I since discovered not all are like that.

Thanks Palm Bob. Does myolensis or maxima have the more stepped trunk as this will determine where I plant it. I saw the picture in plantfiles and saw the red leaf you were reffering to with the maxima and was impressed. So far Mine although still small has opened up 1 new leaf and no such color which I take probably means it won't open open red in the future.

Don

I have never seen any Dypsis species with that stepped a stem... but who knows. It's nice looking otherwise.. .maybe it hasn't been all that well cared for until now, and that's why the trunk is so skinny... but now that you're getting a flower, we will see if it's an Archontophoenix or not.

Green-Eyed-

That palm is not an Archontophoenix but instead Chamaedorea tepejilote, an understory Central American palm. You will need another to get seed, as they are dioecious.

Archontophoenix can be a pain to tell apart. A. cunninghamiana is the only one in the genus without a silvery underside. A. cunninghamiana "Illawarra" can be distinguished by its paler yellowish/green crownshaft and it grows twice as fast as regular cunninghamiana. A. alexandrae has a much darker green crownshaft and fatter pinnae. A tuckeri tends to look closer to myolensis, but it tends to go pinnate later on and keeps green on its trunk longer. A. myolensis is my favorite, with its turquoise crownshaft and fine pinnae. A. maxima also has fine pinnae and the name maxima is actually given to its inflorescense and not its size. A. purpurea is probably the easiest to tell with the obvious crownshaft. Seed sizes and shapes differ for species as well.

Interesting, thanks for the info. If it is indeed C. tepejilote, would it be possible to cross it with another Chamaedorea?

Yes, probably, but you will need to figure out what sex it is, first (not so easy- at least for me)

I believe it would be possible, as there are Cham crosses, but only certain species may be receptive.

-Christian Faulkner

I have a cunningham with a lighter trunk and leaves, and a cunningham multi with darker trunk and leaves. The lighting in this photo is exaggerating things a bit. They were purchased from different nurseries. Can I assume the paler one an illawarra? It is growing faster, but the darker one is by no means a slug.

The picture on the left seems to be of the Illawarra type - unfortunately there is no way to prove this. You can tell it is not the happiest camper in full sun at that age but still looks decent. There is a large one here in town that has growth rings up to a foot apart, but it is much more hot/humid here and it is fed extensively. Try and notice the growth difference in the two - The Illawarra should grow at least twice as fast as regular cunninghamiana.

before I saw kingfish's post I was going to tell you the same thing. Deffinatly Chamaedorea tepejilote!!

Bear with me as I just took photos of my palms this week and am looking for excuses to show them off. This is my Pacaya Palm, or Chamaedorea Tepijilote. There is hope, Green-Eyed Guru. When I got mine two years ago it was infested with spider mites, and down to one leaf. I brought it inside and my cats ate that one half off. They come back.

Yours looks great!

I'm sure it'll come back. The good leaf it had and the spear are both very healthy. I think someone just left it out in the sun and that one leaf got fried. I just planted it outside in full shade.

Got that for $10, btw..

This message was edited Oct 27, 2006 7:54 PM

I spent $30 for a ridiculously rootbound 5 gallon plant. It's roots had swirled up and were coming out of the top of the pot. The pottery place didn't even know what it was. It looked nice at first and immediately got infested with mites. It took a year of trying pesticides and horticultural oils to bring it back. Neem Oil, was the ticket, but you have to go easy because it weakens the leaves. Last spring it's first inflorescence emerged. Like a dayglow orange rooster claw. No seeds though, and I still don't know if that makes it male or female.

This message was edited Oct 28, 2006 11:35 AM

Resurrecting this thread...what makes the trunk in one A. cun dark brown and another light gray?

If you all have more pics of your kings I would like to see them in your landscape (even pots for those of you that haven't planted out yet). I am helping my dad landscape and we want to put in two trios of kings and haven't quite decided which ones to go with yet.