Archontophoenix tuckeri

[Cocoa Beach Jason]

Supposedly these palms can be found in the "mangrove ecotone." Can anyone in its native region confirm this? I'm trying to gauge how close I can plant this next to my sea wall near a brackish-water canal. The roots might get exposed to some salt underground. I would hate to kill it with salt if it can't tolerate a little.

[Palmdude]

Can't help you but your avatar is making me drool!

[akamu]

no help on the palm but I 2nd palm dudes comment on the avatar where is the surf shot taken.

[Cocoa Beach Jason]

That wave is from Brevard County during a small hurricane swell.

[Dave-Vero]

John Dowe (Australian Palms, p 187) says "forming small populations, mostly as a riparian element in rainforest on various soil types, 0-500 m asl"

Dowe also says Tucker was the author of "The Palms of Subequatorial Queensland (1988), which might be worth looking for.

I have a few seedlings under mine, presumably from seeds that fell a few months ago at the start of a summer with average, but well-distributed rainfall.

[Tropicgardener]

I have seen A. tuckeri in habitat on Cape York whilst stationed up there with the Queensland Police. I didn't see a lot of them up around Bamaga but down towards the Iron Range it was quite common, I am not sure about salt tolerance though as I didn't see it growing in areas that would have received salt or brackish inundation.

The publication "Palms of Subequatorial Queensland" is quite an old publication and as such may be difficult to obtain. Some of the names have been updated and changed since it came out in 1988, it is still however an interesting little book. Robert Tucker took a vast amount of knowledge to an early grave with him. It is a pity he didn't produce a book on Australian Pandanus prior to his passing.

[Dave-Vero]

Thanks for the first hand information. From Florida, the coast of Queensland can seem almost a mythical place. We have only a very few native plants in common, mostly at the genus level: Crinum, Dodonea viscosa, Psychotria, Oplismenus (ours is "hammock grass," forming lawns under oaks in summer), a little beach sedge, Cyperus pedunculatus. Of course the palms and our one native cycad are entirely different. We don't have rain forests but do have the ability to shelter palms among oaks.

On the side, the Florida Climate Center has easily-viewed data showing that our mushrooming urban areas are getting warmer, fast. That hasn't yet happened in my county, which is likely to become urban very fast.

Amazon has a vendor with Tucker's book for about $25. Dowe's is, astonishingly, $130 or so.

[Tropicgardener]

Wow, I didn't pay anywhere near that for it. I bought mine online from Fishpond.com.au (which sources and ships worldwide) I think I paid around $70........ I just checked Fishpond then and they have Dowe's for $216 !!! It is a very good book (as long as you can get it for the right price).

In many respects much of the Queensland coast is similar to the Florida coast in climate but flora is worlds apart.

[Kostas]

Did you see A. tuckerii sharing habitat with A. alexandrae? Or do they naturally inhabit different areas?

[jeevesjank]

I used to live on the cliffs in Del Mar california. I had some A. tuckeri facing the ocean, they never looked great I assumed it was a either low wind or salt tolerance, but they lived. Now I'm on the barrier island in Vero, and I don't recall ever seeing any of those palms by the coast

[Tropicgardener]

Kostas, A. alexandrae occurs further south than A.tuckeri. I don't think that they would overlap at all. The only place where I have seen Archontophoenix species naturally share habitat is in high altitude rainforest in Eungella National Park southwest of here. There you see A.alexandrae and A.cunninghamiana intermingled together.

Jeevesjank, you do find Archontophoenix growing along the coast here but generally not exposed to coastal winds or salt air. They do grow on headlands but only under the protection of forest or sheltered gullies. I wouldn't think any Archontophoenix species would look good exposed to salty winds.

[Kostas]

Thank you very much Andrew!!!

[Dave-Vero]

I searched to see how Dowe's book was priced when it was published. It was AU $140 from CSIRO, but US $85 from Amazon! Here's the discussion.

Archontophoenix doesn't seem to have entered Florida's mass market for landscaping plants, unlike Wodyetia and Livistona. Or perhaps I live a bit too far north. Leu Gardens in Orlando has been growing several Archontophoenix species, and weirdly enough, the urban heat island effect has become so strong that Orlando may have a warmer winter climate than I do farther south, on the coast!

The Vero Beach barrier island is a bit unusual in that it had, pre-development, more live oak forest than most of the coast. For some reason, other barrier islands had more natural fires, resulting in scrub and grasslands with lots of saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) and assorted Caribbean shrubs. Possibly, reefs along the Vero Beach portion of the coast break up incoming waves, making for less surf on windy days and perhaps less salt spray.