I just love the dark green colors contrasting with the bright orange infloresence. Benzii is also one of the few Chaemodoreas that can take full coastal sun. Show me yours!

Mine is getting large and is in 3/4 day full sun, inland.

Gary

Hello Garry and Ellidro,

Chamaedorea benziei is a great one to grow, it is a very tough palm and rewarding to grow, always appears healthy, plant and enjoy

Yours do look very healthy

Always enjoy growing good Chamaedorea's

regards

Colin

I'll have to be honest and say I've never seen this species before. It's a fullsun robust looking thing. I'll have to try and get me some of these. It sounds like the perfect Chamie for the sun drenched West Oz garden. It's a very beautiful species. Thanks for showing pics.

Best regards

Tyrone

Ellidro, your photograph shows 3 or 4 stems. Is this a suckering species, or multiple singles planted closely together? If it is a multiple stem female, how far away is the male plant? Also, was the seed set voluntary or did you hand pollinate? What is the hardiness to frost? Thanks very much!

Nice plants you both have here!

I really love Chamaedoreas. Didn't knew that specie too. Good job, now I need it

i have lot of chama seeds, any special advices for them?

Edited August 20, 200817 yr by ffeuillade

It's a C. radicalis on super-steroids. And, it takes coastal sun. Great palm.

Phil

I have 3 Cham Benzii that I've been growing for about 5 or 6 years, each growing in a 5 Gal. container. They seem to grow well in my cool night climate. I move them under a wide overhang in the winter to protect them from frost. I'm afraid of losing them outside during a cold winter, but I've been wondering how much cold they will take. I left mine under the overhang this year where they get no direct sun, and they look kind of stretched out. I like the compact looks of those grown in brighter light.

Dick

Ellidro, your photograph shows 3 or 4 stems. Is this a suckering species, or multiple singles planted closely together? If it is a multiple stem female, how far away is the male plant? Also, was the seed set voluntary or did you hand pollinate? What is the hardiness to frost? Thanks very much!

This is three singles planted close together in hopes of getting seeds someday. I think I lucked out and have two female plants and one male. This plant was not hand pollinated but I'm still not sure if the seeds are good.

Nick

Never knew about this palm... Looks like a keeper for coastal so cali. I am assuming that Chamaedorea benziei is the same palm...Geoff states in Davesgarden that this is potentially the largest Chamaedorea? How big does it get? There does not seem to be a lot of information about it...

I think Chamaedorea woodsoniana is the largest??

Gary, I can not see you being a Chamaedorea guy.

After getting some Chamaedorea seeds (BIG THANKS to the generous donor!) I got in love with this species. So....I think I won't stop 'till I collect them all

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=2636

Chamaedorea Benzii is a single trunked plant that grows to a rather large size, and it has a thick trunk. (for a Chamaedorea) They only hold about 5 fronds at a time so they look best with 3 or more planted about a foot apart. Mine have bloomed only once with both sexes blooming at the same time. I cut off the male inflorescence and dusted the female flowers at anthesis. I got a pretty good seed set, and the seeds are very small for such a large plant. The fruit turns black when they are ripe, and it doesn't take too long for them to mature. As seedlings they are very slow to grow, and I think I've figgured out that they like bright light as seedlings, but only dappled light, not full sun.

The old leaf bases are tough and want to adhere to the trunk, so they should not be pulled away or the trunk will rip. If you want to remove the old leaf bases, it's best to cut them away with shears or scissors. I was told that after being exposed to 25F that the spear pulled out, but the foliage was undamaged. I don't know if the plant survived or not.

Dick

Chamaedorea Benzii is a single trunked plant that grows to a rather large size, and it has a thick trunk. (for a Chamaedorea) They only hold about 5 fronds at a time so they look best with 3 or more planted about a foot apart. Mine have bloomed only once with both sexes blooming at the same time. I cut off the male inflorescence and dusted the female flowers at anthesis. I got a pretty good seed set, and the seeds are very small for such a large plant. The fruit turns black when they are ripe, and it doesn't take too long for them to mature. As seedlings they are very slow to grow, and I think I've figgured out that they like bright light as seedlings, but only dappled light, not full sun.

The old leaf bases are tough and want to adhere to the trunk, so they should not be pulled away or the trunk will rip. If you want to remove the old leaf bases, it's best to cut them away with shears or scissors. I was told that after being exposed to 25F that the spear pulled out, but the foliage was undamaged. I don't know if the plant survived or not.

Dick

Good advise there Dick. I also found the flowers of my C. tepejilotes are very strongly attached to the stem and ripping off will cause trunk damage.

I have 4 C. benziei each with 1-2 ft of trunk within 1 ft of each other. They have not flowered, the flowers never develop beyond the initial little spike close to the trunk, they are in quite a shady position.

There is one C. woodsoniana close by . It was misidentified at some stage and sold to me as C. benziei.

Its pretty easy to tell them apart when you find out the key discriminator: i forgot the exact number, but C. woodsoniana has over 20 leaflets per side, whereas C. benziei has under 20

One day, I may find out if the two will hybridise, if they ever flower together. [ of course I can stop hybridisation if I want to, by cutting the immature flowers off the woodsoniana ]

How sun tolerant is C. woodsoniana? Same as C. tepijilote? They had nice big woodsonianas at Seaside Palms in Capistrano Beach, but I passed on them due to my limited shade area.