Palms in Quito

[realarch]

Had a chance to snap some photos of some palms in Quito in the limited time I had there. The predominant palms were Parajubaea cocoides and CIDP's, with a mix of Ceroxylon, Trachycarpus, and a few Livistona. I knew I'd see Parajubaea and had my fingers crossed in hopes of seeing Ceroxylon. One day it was sunny and warm and the next was rainy and cool so some of the photos aren't the greatest. Anyway, being at 2800 meters it was an interesting mix of palms. I was surprised at how beautiful this city was with the Spanish colonial architecture, the public squares, and surrounded by snow capped 4700 meter volcanos. It is also the cleanest city I have ever been in as well. I really loved this place.

Parajubaea cocoides in one of the public squares.

Close up. the pinnae are so slender, they shimmer in the wind.

Another public servant

When the sun hits the leaves they have this nice sheen to them.

[realarch]

Here's a close up of the crown and seed.

There were quite a few Trachycarpus fortunei around town.

Ahhh, spotted a Ceroxylon echinulatum. Poor guy doesn't look in the best shape.

Here's another one, and looks pretty tall. Has an almost E. precatoria look to it.

Spotted some CIDP's a couple of Ceroxylon ventricosum behind.

[realarch]

The trunks on these palms are just too cool. So smooth looking and robust.

A couple of crowns.

This one had a more upright crown, just a natural variation I guess.

A close up

[realarch]

Just a few more photos.

A close up of the other one.

Here's a Trachy and looks like a Livistona australis

Spotted a Jubaea on the way to the airport and a not so healthy P. cocoides.

Anyway just thought I'd post so you might have an idea of what types of palms can grow

in Quito.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Thanks Tim, I love the Ceroxylon photos!

[maesy]

Very nice pictures Tim,

I wonder, are there two different kinds of Parajubaea cocoides?

If you compare the one in San Francisco with the ones in Quito, you will recognize that their trunks look very different.

Or are they loosing the hair when they get older?

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?ac...st&id=44844

Marcel

[kristof p]

i think the Trachycarpus in picture No 16 is not a Trachycarpus but a Trithrinax species, maybe T. brasiliensis or T. acanthacoma?

[John in Andalucia]

Thanks for the photos, Tim. Great to see Ceroxylons in a public setting. So you were in C. linearis country!

[Kostas]

Great photos Tim!!! You were very lucky to go there!

I very much enjoyed the many Parajubaea cocoides photos and the Ceroxylon echinulatum ones!!!

[Davidl]

Tim those are great photos and it makes me want to go see them myself. I been to Ecuador many times and love the country and the scenery.

[PalmGuyWC]

Tim,

Great photos, and thanks for the tour. Quito must be the only large city of earth where Parajubaeas are used as street trees. I wish San Francisco could get that flavor.

Dick

[realarch]

Thanks Jeff, ever see any at higher elevations in CR?

Dick, the Parajubaea are all over the place. Too bad Ceroxylon isn't more widely planted, those are stunning and there are so many varieties.

Hey, I like the new avatar, robust, mature, and lots of wood.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Thanks Jeff, ever see any at higher elevations in CR?

Dick, the Parajubaea are all over the place. Too bad Ceroxylon isn't more widely planted, those are stunning and there are so many varieties.

Hey, I like the new avatar, robust, mature, and lots of wood.

Hi Tim, I haven't seen any Ceroxylons in Costa Rica yet. I think this would be a good palm for the Central Valley and some of the other higher elevations.

[osideterry]

Is my math bad, or is Quito at 8,000ft elevation? I know it's all relative being at the equator, but that's 2000 ft higher than Lake Tahoe.

I do not regret planting any Parajubaea. What a great palm for my area. I'm still on the fence on the Ceroxylons though. Besides that nice one in Ventura, I'm just not seeing them tried with success here. That is worth thread of it's own.

[realarch]

Jeff, looks like you might have to do some commando planting this spring. I know they aren't endemic to CR, but thought maybe somebody had planted a few.

[maesy]

Quito wrote:

Thanks for the note, I think the one in your link is a Parajubaea torallyi. They are more massive and have all the fiber and leaf bases on the trunk.

I'll have to be more observant the next time I get to SF. Thanks

Tim,

This Parajubaea is not just any P.cocoides, it's the father of all the Butia x parajubaea hybrids patric has made so far according to Dick.

If it is as you are saying, then all the B x P would actually be Butia x Parajubaea torallyi!

Marcel

[Alberto]

At posr #4 second pic , ! also can see the branches of our Araucaria angustifolia (left) . I also thinks that this´´Trackys´´ looks as lk ot like our Trithrinax acanthocoma.

[SubTropicRay]

Great photos. The Parajubaea are gorgeous.

[PalmGuyWC]

All of the Butia X Parajubaeas of any size came from Darold Petty's P. cocoides in San Francisco. Patrick has only gotten pollen from P. torallyi in the past year or two so those seedlings would be to small to sell yet. In fact, I don't even know if the Butia X TVT seeds have germinated yet.

Dick

[maesy]

Dick,

what do you think, when you compare Darold's P.cocoides with the ones from Quito?

Marcel

[realarch]

Marcel, the photo in your link is a hybrid, Butia X Parajubaea cocoides, that's why it looks different than just P. cocoides. I said I 'thought' it might be torallyi, but I thought wrong.

Beautiful palm none the less. Dick may have to save me here.

Alberto, I think you are correct about the T. acanthacoma or brasiliensis. That's good, makes for even more variety.

[maesy]

Tim,

it's not a hybrid!

It is the source where the pollen came from for the crosses Patrick made.

Marcel

[bgl]

Tim,

Thanks for the great photos! Nice to see photos of palms that you don't see here, even though I have to assume that they might in fact do very well at higher elevation on the Kona side. And never having been to Ecuador I found your comment about Quito being the cleanest city you've been to quite interesting.

Bo-Göran

[PalmGuyWC]

This conversation is getting a little confussing. The Parajubaeas in Quito look different because they are so old and all the excelsa has worn away from the trunks. Those are ancient palms in Quito. Darold's P. cocoides is a much younger tree, but the excelsa will eventually wear off, or weather off.

Dick

[realarch]

Thanks Dick, live and learn. I apologize for the confusion. I hope I didn't make you too crazy Marcel.

Tim

[maesy]

That's what I guess.

Thank you Dick.

[maesy]

No problem Tim.

You just keeping me busy!

Marcel

[Bennz]

Every time I see these Quito cocoides I also think they look like a different form to what we have here. Admittedly the oldest ones in NZ are not old (20-30yrs?), but they seem to have much fatter trunks and shorter leaves relative to these Quito palms. I hope this is just a juvenility issue, not environmental. The Quite trees are far more attractive.

[soro]

Beautiful photos! I enjoyed especially those Parajubaea! I can't see any Trithrinax here... the palm on Photo 16 looks like a Washingtonia to me...

[garrin]

Aloha Tim,

Thank you so much for bringing back to me such wonderful memories of Quito. I have visited Quito three times, but the last time was over twenty years ago! I am so happy that you report such cleanliness still there. It was that way years ago, and has always since my first visit there been my favorite city in South America. You certainly are right about the beauty of the old colonial structures. The first time I was there I was told by locals that there at one time had been many avenues lined with dozens of ceroxylons, but they had to remove most of the strret plantings of ceroxylons to widen the streets enough to allow passage of automobiltes when they came on the scene in large numbers. At over 9000 ft elevation it seems that it is close enough to the equator to have a perfect perpetual spring-like pleasant climate. There are two rainy seasons there, each time the sun passes the equator on it way between the hemispheres -- it is enough to keep the countryside almost perpetually green, and the snowy peaks around the city make for absolutely stunning scenery. I have a Peruvian director of the IPS (Fernando Roca) visiting me here in Hawai'i now and he going to Quito for his very first time next week. I'll call him in right now to view your wonderful photos.

I was thrilled to recently receive my latest Palms journal with the wonderful article about the palms of the Andean cities of Ecuador! Thanks again, from the heart,

Garrin

[Paco]

Guys!! I think that you might find interesting this article, that has been posted in the Spanish forum, about a very recent discovery of the only wild population of Parajubaea cocoides, and it's in Peru : http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=16173

Regards

Paco

[realarch]

Bo, I never expected Quito to be such a beautiful city, our whole group fell in love with the place.

I'm sure the government has something to do with the cleanliness, there were armies of people sweeping,

scraping, and on their hands and knees digging weeds and grass from between cobblestones. I'm sure parts

of the city weren't as nice as the central part of the town, but it was quite tidy.

Paco, a wild population is short of amazing according to what limited knowledge I have of this palm. The other disadvantage

is not being able to speak Spanish.

Tim

[Urban Rainforest]

Tim, What an awesome trip you took! Quito has been a place I would like to travel to someday for years. My brother and his family went there years ago and said it was amazing. I love the Parajubaea and Ceroxylon pics . Your pics and the new IPS journal make me VERY glad I have all 4 varieties of Parajubaea planted in my San Diego garden. Thanks for posting!

Stevo

[PalmGuyWC]

That's very exciting news if a wild population of p. cocoides has been found. It's been lumped with P. TVT, but I always thought it was a seperate species. I wish someone would translate so we can all read the article. I'm curious, are there any other species of Parajubaea found growing in Quito? I've often wondered if there might be another species of Parajubaea growing in some romote valley, hidden away in S. America.

Dick

[realarch]

Steve, I'm gonna have to get over to your place. From the photos I've seen it looks like a slice of paradise here in SD.

Tim

[Bennz]

That's very exciting news if a wild population of p. cocoides has been found. It's been lumped with P. TVT, but I always thought it was a seperate species. I wish someone would translate so we can all read the article. I'm curious, are there any other species of Parajubaea found growing in Quito? I've often wondered if there might be another species of Parajubaea growing in some romote valley, hidden away in S. America.

Dick

Dick, copy and paste the URl ont a translation site such as http://translate.google.com/translate_t# you can read anything. Not always 100% clear, but good enough.

[PalmGuyWC]

Bennz,

Thanks. I tried it and it worked. I found the translation more readable than I thought it would. Now I think I'll scan the Spanish forum and see what I've been missing.

Dick

[Darold Petty]

Marcel and Tim; The posted link is my palm, 100% P. cocoides, seed collection by Garrin in the late 1970's from Quito, planted in 1983. The hairy fibers on the trunk have loosened on the lower part of the trunk. I have not removed them for two reasons. I like the trunk to have a consistant appearance, and the hairy, fibrous surface deters vandals from writing on the smooth trunk.

[PalmGuyWC]

Marcel and Tim; The posted link is my palm, 100% P. cocoides, seed collection by Garrin in the late 1970's from Quito, planted in 1983. The hairy fibers on the trunk have loosened on the lower part of the trunk. I have not removed them for two reasons. I like the trunk to have a consistant appearance, and the hairy, fibrous surface deters vandals from writing on the smooth trunk.

I ran across this old thread and thought it might be nice to review again. This is for those who have cool climates.

Dick

[Gaston in Argentina]

Thanks for share so beautifull pictures of Parajubaea cocoides and Ceroxylons in Quito. It`s a favorite place for watch subtropical palms in Southamerica.- It seems there was maaany palms lovers in Quito years ago and one just enjoy.-

I think the palm in the picture you named as Euterpe precatoria is not that palm if not an Ceroxylon maybe parvifrons or parvum.-