Rhapis humilis

[tank]

RPS has Rhapis humilis seed for sale.  

I thought that this species consisted only of males in cultivation and was not known to produce seed.

Any insight on this?

THANKS!

[Jeff Searle]

(tank @ Jan. 15 2007,11:05)

QUOTE

RPS has Rhapis humilis seed for sale.  

I thought that this species consisted only of males in cultivation and was not known to produce seed.

Any insight on this?

THANKS!

Thats a very good point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why don't you send him a PM in regards to this, and let him know that many people would like to try this seed, but are in fear of waisting money and a couple of years, only to find out that their something else. Maybe if you can get a answer soon, you can report back with an answer. I for one would like to know.

Jeff

[tank]

Ortanique also listed R. humilis seed.

Hopefully Joseph will see this thread and fill us in.

I'll email RPS.

[Ortanique]

Our R. humilis seeds came from mainland China - wild collected. This supplier does not have a plantation - and hence i am certain - these are not from cultivated sources. R. humilis and gracilis is native to China - if memory serves me right.

[SubTropicRay]

A bit off topic but R. subtilis produces seed like crazy

[chris.oz]

In Palms Vol. 47, No. 2 1993 Laura Hastings published "A Revision of Rhapis, the Lady Palms"  in this article she confirmed the existence of both male and female palms.  The female palms are confirmed as located in China at Mt. Emei [ Omei] near to which is a buddist shrine.  

Clearly now female R. humilis are "known" to exist.  

However it is easy for seed gatherers to mis-identify palms and it takes many years to validate the species you have grown and tyo know whether you have male or female palms.

This year one of my clumps flowered for the first time.  It is 3 metres tall and 1 meter in diameter and did not flower until the top leaves saw full sun.

[eastern.nurseries]

Our R. humilis seeds came from mainland China - wild collected. This supplier does not have a plantation - and hence i am certain - these are not from cultivated sources. R. humilis and gracilis is native to China - if memory serves me right.

This source of seed sounds very much like a supplier based in Wuhan, China. I have had 2 shipments of their 'excelsa' seed which they told me did not come from a plantation. On further inquiry I found out that the seed was collected by street kids from plants growing in hotels, parks and gardens and it was obvious to us that they didn't know what they were collecting because the plants produced from it were a mixed batch of excelsa, gracilis, multifida , subtilis, humilis and crosses of God only know's what! The excelsa types had very thin leaves and weren't robust. They were more prone to disease than plants grown from the high quality seed and were inferior in quality, uniformity and hardiness. It was interesting stuff but not predictable and therefore not commercially viable, as a result we destroyed the lot and wrote the experience off as an expensive lesson. I guess what I am trying to say is 'buyer beware!' The best rhapis seed we've sourced comes from Japan and the cheapest seed comes from China.

[tank]

I contacted RPS and they were kind enough to reply with an explanation.  They also said it wasn't a problem for me to post it.

Here is the reply

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"The R. humilis clone that is in cultivation in the US is male, that is probably how this assumption started that there were no female plants.

The seed we have came from China. I was skeptical myself at first, but several customers who bought batches of it in the last few years have reported this looks like the real thing.

.....Thanks, TOBY "