Encephalartos (arenarius x horridus) x latifrons

[Tracy]

I have been enticed by the various Encephalartos latifrons hybrids and woodii hybrids.  I haven't seen a woodii hybrid yet that shows any blue, but with the latifrons there is some hope.  My still small Encephalartos (arenarius x horridus) x latifrons hardened off its last flush earlier this summer, and I noticed that its showing a little bit of the wax that gives "blue" cycads their color.  In that it is still young, I'm hopeful that as it matures it will increasingly show this color.  I know that there was a batch of seedlings sold a couple of years ago, so I'm curious if anyone else who acquired this hybrid is seeing color on their plants.  Being a hybrid, there was also an interesting variety of genetic diversity among the seedlings.  So if you have one of these, please share what yours is doing now.  By the way, while there was a hint of wax on an earlier flush, it was significantly less than on the current flush.  I also am growing an E. blue arenarius x latifrons and an E blue form arenarius x latifrons, which are very blue but don't show much of the classic latifrons stacking and overlapping leaflets yet.  With those, I'm hoping they start looking more like latifrons, as they do have the nice blue color.
 

[5150cycad]

Nice looking hybrid Tracy. Latifrons hybrids are by far my favorite. I recently bought 2 horridus x latifrons and they came from 2 different sources. One of them is very blue and the other is very green. 

[Palm Tree Jim]

Nice cycads Bryan.

[Tracy]

On 8/22/2018, 8:29:03, 5150cycad said:

Latifrons hybrids are by far my favorite. I recently bought 2 horridus x latifrons and they came from 2 different sources. One of them is very blue and the other is very green. 

 

I did see that George Sparkman has both the E. horridus x latifrons and the E (arenarius x horridus) x latifrons in 5 gallons listed on his August 2018 price list in "limited" quantities.  I'm not sure if this is the same batch that my E (arenarius x horridus) x latifrons came from or a newer batch, but I got mine from George.  Even though mine has been in the ground a little while, his Encephalartos always grow faster up in Fallbrook's heat than they do down in my climate.  As a consequence, a subsequent batch could have already caught up to my plant. 

Either plant should prove interesting hybrids as your photos show.  You just never know quite what the end mature plants will look like when they are small, which is part of the excitement of experimenting!

[5150cycad]

9 hours ago, Tracy said:

I did see that George Sparkman has both the E. horridus x latifrons and the E (arenarius x horridus) x latifrons in 5 gallons listed on his August 2018 price list in "limited" quantities.  I'm not sure if this is the same batch that my E (arenarius x horridus) x latifrons came from or a newer batch, but I got mine from George.  Even though mine has been in the ground a little while, his Encephalartos always grow faster up in Fallbrook's heat than they do down in my climate.  As a consequence, a subsequent batch could have already caught up to my plant. 

Either plant should prove interesting hybrids as your photos show.  You just never know quite what the end mature plants will look like when they are small, which is part of the excitement of experimenting!

The Cycad in the first picture was a horridus x latifrons that I purchased from George Sparkman about 3-4 months ago. The other horridus x latifrons came from a different source. I also attached pictures of an (arenarius x horridus) x latifrons that I recently obtained from a friend that picked it up from Sparkman. I really like the latifrons hybrids. They seem to show new characteristics with every flush. I am hoping one day they will all turn into blue latifrons. 

[Tracy]

17 hours ago, 5150cycad said:

Nice form and color on this one!

[Tracy]

This is the plant I acquired as an Encephalartos (arenarius x horridus) x latifrons going through this spring/summer flush starting with a June 6 photo and finishing with a July 4th photo.  I'm not seeing much latifrons in it personally.  There sometimes is a hint of bluish tint, but it grows under some low hanging limbs from my Dypsis prestoniana still, so isn't a full sun plant yet.  Mostly what I see is the E arenarius, but it's definitely more twisted than my other arenarius.

Anyone else have one of these from George Sparkman that they would like to provide a status update on?

[Firepalm]

Here are some pics of mine.  Sorry for the bad lighting.  This plant was purchased from George as a small 5 gallon and has been in the ground for about 4 or 5 growing seasons.  It is just finishing off a flush on the main caudex and on the pup. Always flushes a bit light green and hardens off extremely blue. 

[Tracy]

On 7/9/2022 at 2:57 PM, Firepalm said:

Always flushes a bit light green and hardens off extremely blue.

I have seen a color change too, but nothing near as blue as your plant, which has spectacular color.  Mine is still at the green stage.  Perhaps things will change when it starts getting more light again.  It has had a couple of leaves from one of my Dypsis prestoniana hanging right above it giving a good deal of shade, but with that soon to come off, the newest flush will see more direct sun than it has in quite a while.  Leaves on this one are quite twisted.