One Seed, Two Palms

[kwtimo]

I recently dug up a fair amount of Attalea butyracea seedlings that were in immediate proximity of the host palm that fell victim to Hurricane Irma. While I was sorting through them, I found that there were several of these that had sprouted twice from the same seed. Having never seen this before, I thought it was pretty interesting. Has anyone else experienced this with their seedlings? Will both of the seedlings live?

[PalmatierMeg]

Yes. That is not uncommon in cocoid palms. One of my late dwarf red spicata coconut mother palm's 1st seeds produced twin embryos. I planted them together and they are growing as doubles. Of course, Attaleas will be huge but you can pot them together until they are larger with healthy root systems then separate them. Very cool.

[Fusca]

Very cool indeed!  This happens a lot with Butia seed which can have up to 4 embryos.

[kinzyjr]

Just had this happen with a phoenix theophrasti batch I got from Greece.  Awesome stuff!