THis is sort of an unusual palm, from Madagascar. It is not all that common in cultivation and most that are growing it are doing so rece...Read Morently, as it hasn't been available until recently. It is a very slow growing palm, even in Madagascar and adult plants with trunk must be over 20-30 years old. I have had some for 8 years and they are not a lot bigger than they were when I got them as 4 year old seedlings, though they have not been kept very warm. It is an unusual palm in that it has a huge carrot-like root, similar to that of a cycad, but a small, grass-like leaf structure above ground (at least for a long time). The leaves are a blue-green color and markedly arched or recurved. Trunking palms (or which I have only seen photos of from Madagascar) have skirts of retained leaves with relatively small crowns of living ones. I am not sure if this is all an adaptation for dry climate, but I suspect so. It does well in rainy, hot climates, too, though. It has surprisingly cold hardiness as a seedling, and once it's 6 years old or more it tolerates full inland southern California sun (something it resents before that age).
Tried to move a larger one recently... roots over 8' long and grow laterally mostly, and get fatter the further from the palm you go... and are incredibly soft and brittle. No way to move palm without breaking all the roots! Not sure this is a good palm to move.. plant where you want it the first time!
THis is sort of an unusual palm, from Madagascar. It is not all that common in cultivation and most that are growing it are doing so rece...Read More