my variegated Rhapis Excelsa flowering!!!

[Mohsen]

Just wanted to water my my variegated Rhapis Excelsa and noticed it is flowering, it is very beautiful

can this produce seeds or we need male/ female ?

[peachy]

I don't know anyone who propagates Rhapis by seed. It's supposed to be difficult, so who would bother when they multiply like mad and you just separate the stems. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Nessie42]

As far as I know, one does require male/female to produce seed. Also, the variegated plants in particular are propagated through offshoots, because seed may not produce the same variegation or even any variegation at all.

[Pal Meir]

Rhapis is usually dioecious, but maybe you have two (or more) plants in your pot or one with hermaphrodite flowers.

[ExoticPalms]

Looks great.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Lovely!  Always love it when indoor palms bloom.   I'd love to have a verigated one but they are prohibitively expensive. There is one nice one about 2 feet tall and one of my local greenhouse nurseries that's got about 6-8 canes in it, but it's 200 bucks. 

 

    Aren't almost all raphis in trade one sex because almost all of the propagation is vegetative?  To my knowledge I have not heard of anyone ever growing from seeds.  

[Pal Meir]

1 hour ago, DCA_Palm_Fan said:

Lovely!  Always love it when indoor palms bloom.   I'd love to have a verigated one but they are prohibitively expensive. There is one nice one about 2 feet tall and one of my local greenhouse nurseries that's got about 6-8 canes in it, but it's 200 bucks.

    Aren't almost all raphis in trade one sex because almost all of the propagation is vegetative?  To my knowledge I have not heard of anyone ever growing from seeds.  

I have grown up from seed these Rhapis spp: R cochinchinensis (= laosensis), gracilis, micrantha, multifida, robusta, subtilis; cf. also:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/palmeir/albums/72157652136494401

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

1 hour ago, Pal Meir said:

I have grown up from seed these Rhapis spp: R cochinchinensis (= laosensis), gracilis, micrantha, multifida, robusta, subtilis; cf. also:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/palmeir/albums/72157652136494401

Maybe it's excelsa I'm thinking of?   I also know it's exceedingly rare to get Multifida seed here in the United States.  

[Pal Meir]

5 minutes ago, DCA_Palm_Fan said:

Maybe it's excelsa I'm thinking of?   I also know it's exceedingly rare to get Multifida seed here in the United States.  

It is R humilis until the discovery of its habitat in S-China in the 1990s.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Oh ok.  See I learned something new.   :-).    I knew there was one of them that isn't known outside of cultivation but may she that's incorrect.    I did inquire with a prominent nursery guy here in the states that does mail order as well and maybe that's where I may have heard about the raphis that's rarely ever grown from seed here.  I believe that was Multifida.  He even has trouble getting them in smaller sixes other than very large commercial sized plants.  As you may or may not be aware I've been on a quest for quite some time now to obtain a smaller Multifida.  Still no luck with it to date unfortunately.   I even have photos of the kinds I'm looking for as a reference point, and some of those photos came from here even.  Maybe some day I'll learn all of the mysteries of raphis.  Lol!   For now I enjoy my now two smaller Excelsa.  :-)

[Hillizard]

My 'regular' R. excelsa in bloom today. More colorful than I expected. My variegated one hasn't bloomed yet. I keep both varieties outside year-round in shade.

[Fusca]

5 hours ago, Hillizard said:

My 'regular' R. excelsa in bloom today. More colorful than I expected. My variegated one hasn't bloomed yet. I keep both varieties outside year-round in shade.

Yours looks different than @Mohsen's - perhaps yours is female and his is male?

[Hillizard]

1 hour ago, Fusca said:

Yours looks different than @Mohsen's - perhaps yours is female and his is male?

It's possible, but it could also be the color differences are due to his being a variegated variety and mine is just the regular species. Also, his blooming spikes weren't fully expanded yet like mine, so it's difficult to compare them at two different stages.

[Fusca]

12 hours ago, Hillizard said:

It's possible, but it could also be the color differences are due to his being a variegated variety and mine is just the regular species. Also, his blooming spikes weren't fully expanded yet like mine, so it's difficult to compare them at two different stages.

True.  I noticed the color difference but more so the number of flowers.  I'm not familiar with Rhapis flowers but yours (like mine) are farther apart than @Mohsen's so that makes me think his are male.   I could be wrong.

 

[scubamom]

Rhapis excels needs both male and female to produce viable seeds.  We used to produce seed this way.  Yes variegated can bloom. 
About 4 variegated can sprout in 100,000 seed!