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Brahea hybrid in north Florida


tank

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Picked up a few of these from Merrill Wilcox several years ago as seedlings in a community pot and for the life of me can't remember which hybrid this is. I think it had some B. brandegeei and maybe B. edulis or aculeata?

Have three in the ground with this being the largest. It has begun to "silver" up this year.

Neither high humidity or temps into the mid teens have fazed it.

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post-526-0-01666900-1403532614_thumb.jpg

Jason

Gainesville, Florida

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I'd love to know what this hybrid is. I've got two of them and I just can't figure out what they are. My guess would have been edulis x armata. Edulis x brandegei is not likely since it would not be that glaucous, I have that hybrid as well and it looks different. Brandegei x aculeata could be a possibility.

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I was actually not expecting the leaves to become glaucous on this plant. Merrill has some much larger Brahea hybrids that I thought were the same plant and they are not glaucous. It is very slow growing. The leaves never show any spotting or damage from rain or humidity (especially in older leaves) like some of the other Braheas that I'm growing like armata, clara, decumbens, and the super silver variety that I'm still growing in pots.

Jason

Gainesville, Florida

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  • 5 months later...

I have a couple of Brahea hybrids from Dr. Wilcox also (may he rest in peace!). I lost the tags on them, but if I recall they are B. edulis x brandegeei, or the reciprocal cross. I can't remember. This is the best one. It's finally starting to take off.

IMG_20141127_123729_442_zpsb0semmfc.jpg

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Good show --- my guess is that it is B. brandeghii x edulis ----- I only have seen B. brandeghi here in North Florida blooming ---- I have B aculeata up to blooming size but the others just havent done it yet in the climate.

He was a consummate botanist

Best regads

Ed

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Well I just got a message from a friend on another forum that got a couple of the same palms from Merrill, and she said that they are labeled BEB, so I think it is B. edulis x brandegeei. I wish I had kept better records, but that sounds right. Merrill didn't write the whole name on the tag, just enough to where he would know what it was.

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I actually went to Kanapaha Gardens today in Gainesville, and there are two of these palms there. They are indeed B. edulis x brandegeei. I took a couple pics, but can't upload until I get home next week.

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where can I find B. edulis x brandegeei??? I would love to put this in my garden

Carlsbad, California Zone 10 B on the hill (402 ft. elevation)

Sunset zone 24

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Josh-O, you might be able to find them at the Huntington Gardens sale. There are several older ones in the palm garden there.

Jason Dewees

Inner Sunset District

San Francisco, California

Sunset zone 17

USDA zone 10a

21 inches / 530mm annual rainfall, mostly October to April

Humidity averages 60 to 85 percent year-round.

Summer: 67F/55F | 19C/12C

Winter: 56F/44F | 13C/6C

40-year extremes: 96F/26F | 35.5C/-3.8C

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Frank,

My other two look like yours, but are not as large. Growing very slowly in a very dry area in my yard.

Are you growing these in Tennessee?

Jason

Gainesville, Florida

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Sounds like an interesting hybrid. I love the look of B edulis, but wouldn't try it in my humid climate. I'd be willing to try the hybrid.

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I'm having a hard time believing there is Edulis in that one, based on the color. If it's truly Edulis x Brandegii , where's the blueness coming from?

Paradise Hills, 4 miles inland, south facing slope in the back, north facing yard in the front

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Frank,

My other two look like yours, but are not as large. Growing very slowly in a very dry area in my yard.

Are you growing these in Tennessee?

I would never subject those palms to Tennessee's climate, LOL. They are in my folks' yard in Gainesville, FL.

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Frank,

My other two look like yours, but are not as large. Growing very slowly in a very dry area in my yard.

Are you growing these in Tennessee?

I would never subject those palms to Tennessee's climate, LOL. They are in my folks' yard in Gainesville, FL.

I kinda thought that they were in Gainesville after reading some of your other recent posts. Would take quite a bit of effort to keep these going in Tennessee!

I lost a bunch of my plant tags during the move to my current house a few years ago.

It is possible that I got two different sets of hybrids. I distinctly remember one of the hybrids being something other than edulis or brandegeei. I think it was a cross with either aculeata or armata. Would explain the silvering up of the leaves is suppose. I also remember one of the community pots with BEB marked on the side like you described. Pretty happy with it so far. Has definitely picked up speed as it has gotten larger. The plant pictured above is probably 7 or 8 years old.

Jason

Gainesville, Florida

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Good show --- my guess is that it is B. brandeghii x edulis ----- I only have seen B. brandeghi here in North Florida blooming ---- I have B aculeata up to blooming size but the others just havent done it yet in the climate.

He was a consummate botanist

Best regads

Ed

Ed,

Merrill was definitely a consummate botanist and a kind and gentle soul, with just enough sarcasm to keep things fun.

Would love to see a pic of your B. aculeata. I don't remember seeing it when I stopped by. Hope you were successful in thinning out your livistona forest.

Jason

Gainesville, Florida

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Just got back from Gainesville and am able to post a couple of pics of the Brahea hybrids at Kanapaha. I included the sign for good measure. In my opinion, the palm on the left is the more attractive of the two. Sorry for the fuzzy pictures...my camera is 10 years old, LOL.

IMG_0007_zpsa07462cf.jpg

IMG_0006_zps6784a173.jpg

IMG_0008_zpsb6d237d8.jpg

Edited by Frank - Knoxville
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Thanks Ed and Frank for the pics.

Ed, does your B. aculeata get cold damage every winter?

Frank,

I've posted pics of those palms on this forum and they are much larger now. I think my pics were posted in 2009 or 08.

Jason

Gainesville, Florida

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Hi Jason,

I thought someone probably had posted those before on this forum, but I was more or less just wanting to post a picture of the tag since there was a bit of confusion as to what exactly the hybrid parentage was.

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Hi Jason,

I thought someone probably had posted those before on this forum, but I was more or less just wanting to post a picture of the tag since there was a bit of confusion as to what exactly the hybrid parentage was.

I'm glad you posted it. Those things are growing fast! Seem to remember both of them only having about 3' or 4' of clear trunk in the last pics. Thanks for clearing up the parentage. Also, I think all of mine are the BEB hybrids, with the greyish one potentially having that color because of where its growing and maybe how its color is interacting with the plants around it and because the picture was taken while it was in some shade, at least that's how I'm leaning.

Jason

Gainesville, Florida

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Where do I get one of those!??? I've been looking for a substitute for pritchardia in a 9a landscape and that palm is pretty close to the look. I was just gonna plant livistona chinensis instead.

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Hi Jason,

I thought someone probably had posted those before on this forum, but I was more or less just wanting to post a picture of the tag since there was a bit of confusion as to what exactly the hybrid parentage was.

I'm glad you posted it. Those things are growing fast! Seem to remember both of them only having about 3' or 4' of clear trunk in the last pics. Thanks for clearing up the parentage. Also, I think all of mine are the BEB hybrids, with the greyish one potentially having that color because of where its growing and maybe how its color is interacting with the plants around it and because the picture was taken while it was in some shade, at least that's how I'm leaning.

Did you see Merrill's original one in his yard in Gainesville? That thing was huge!

Tropicdoc, I think all of these were obtained from the late Dr. Wilcox, so I suppose we will have to wait until these go to seed now to further propagate them.

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Josh-O, you might be able to find them at the Huntington Gardens sale. There are several older ones in the palm garden there.

Thanks for the tip Jason. I live 2 hours away from the Huntington gardens and is a very doable drive

Carlsbad, California Zone 10 B on the hill (402 ft. elevation)

Sunset zone 24

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I'm impressed that these are doing so well here in Florida. Temperatures are in the acceptable range and up in Gainesville with its sugar sand - excellent drainage. In the summer there is such high humidity, I never would have believed they could do well here. The pictures speak a thousand words. Habitats to both parents are pretty dry.

Great thread! :greenthumb:

Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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I apologize for the poor quality of the picture, but this is the original palm in the late Dr. Wilcox's yard in Gainesville, dated 07/23/08.

100_0010_zps6f082377.jpg

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That's a beauty!

Jeremy Breland
Norfolk, Va: USDA hardiness zone 8a, AHS heat zone 5, Sunset climate zone 31
Hot and humid summers; cool and moist winters.
Jacksonville FL: USDA hardiness zone 9a/9b, AHS heat zone 9, Sunset climate zone 28
Hot and humid summers; warm and moist winters punctuated by cold spells.

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That's an awesome palm and picture. I'm growing a brahea BEB in Dallas that Merrill gave me in 2009

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Hey Matt! How's it going? How's yours doing? Any pictures of it? Thanks for the compliment on the picture, but I know you were just trying to be nice, LOL! That picture is awful and I know it. My camera is pathetic and old, and rarely takes decent pictures anymore, and I am too cheap to go buy a new one (even though that picture is from 2008, I still have the same camera...it was old back then!). However, the palm is awesome! It's really impressive in person, and not something you would expect to see in Gainesville. I'm glad you got to meet Merrill. He was a pretty great person.

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Hi Frank- long time, no talk to! I don't have a current pic of my b. Edulis x brandegeei- I need to take one. It's been a slow grower for me. It had a near death experience from the cold blast of Feb 2011, but looks fine now. I was very glad to meet Merrill and see all that he created and had growing in Gainesville & Alachua- truly the fantasy land of cold hardy hybrids. The euc amplifolia you gave me has grown well.

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Hi Frank- long time, no talk to! I don't have a current pic of my b. Edulis x brandegeei- I need to take one. It's been a slow grower for me. It had a near death experience from the cold blast of Feb 2011, but looks fine now. I was very glad to meet Merrill and see all that he created and had growing in Gainesville & Alachua- truly the fantasy land of cold hardy hybrids. The euc amplifolia you gave me has grown well.

Glad to hear that! I totally forgot about those Eucs until Hayes told me earlier that his was recovering. None of mine made it here, unsurprisingly, LOL.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Better pictures taken last week.

IMG_0240_zpsc7f72167.jpg

IMG_0241_zps83442a66.jpg

IMG_0242_zpse25a3754.jpg

The smaller one is the same age but was horribly neglected and almost killed by Dad's lawnmower.

IMG_0271_zpsc49022a4.jpg

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What makes you believe that the plant in the first three pictures is a hybrid? I have an IDENTICAL exemplary and unaninimously in PT and in the European Palm Society people's opinion is that it is an edulis.

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What makes you believe that the plant in the first three pictures is a hybrid? I have an IDENTICAL exemplary and unaninimously in PT and in the European Palm Society people's opinion is that it is an edulis.

The only reason I believe that it is a hybrid is because that is what the man who I got them from told me they were.

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Better pictures taken last week.

IMG_0240_zpsc7f72167.jpg

IMG_0241_zps83442a66.jpg

IMG_0242_zpse25a3754.jpg

The smaller one is the same age but was horribly neglected and almost killed by Dad's lawnmower.

IMG_0271_zpsc49022a4.jpg

Brahea of 1 photo,also to me it seems a Brahea edulis

GIUSEPPE

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edulis here in SoCal is more olive green

Paradise Hills, 4 miles inland, south facing slope in the back, north facing yard in the front

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Edulis has a very hard time growing in Florida. I have tried with plants that I have grown from seed and from 3 gal plants that I obtained from Cali an all have perished during our summers. The fellow we obtained seed from tried on several occasions to get B. edulis to succeed in Florida. He failed on all tries, even with reasonably large plants in presumably optimal sites.

This seed was obtained from California from a seeding plant that was presumed by reputable individuals to produce hybrid seed. The hope was that the hybrid would preform better than pure B. edulis.

These hybrid palms do very well in our area and seem to thrive in moderately moist sites, unlike B. edulis.

While your plant does look similar to Franks, I don't know why you would consider your photos definitive evidence that they are the same species, considering the background on our plants and by the fact that B. edulis does not do well in our area. I would concede that these might be a rare strain of B. edulis that is very tolerant of hot, humid, swampy conditions, but it seems more likely that these are hybrids. I would be surprised if they did not look similar to pure edulis, especially since B. edulis was the mother plant for these hybrids (at least from the tags placed on them by Dr. Wilcox).

Jason

Gainesville, Florida

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No, I hold nothing for definitive, I am just trying to find out whether one could tell apart a genuine edulis from a purported hybrid based on the different appearance even in the tiniest details. Growth factor is indeed another differentiating factor equally important to appearance.Do we know more about origin of those seeds? Is mother plant itself a hybrid (meaning that offspring is an f2 hybrid) or does it get cross-pollinated?

Edited by Phoenikakias
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