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New Caledonian name changes


Matt in SD

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I just had a chance to browse through the new SoCal palm journal. While I'm stoked to finally get one, I have to say that staring at page after page of photos of dead and damaged palms is not really my cup of tea. But I guess it had to be done (recap of the big freeze that is).

But there is an article on name changes in New Caledonian palms by Don Hodel that really got me pumped. Two biggies:

- Moratia cerifera = Cyphophoenix cerifera and Veillonia alba = Cyphophoenix alba So I now have two of the four Cyphophoenix species growing in my garden, and a third (alba) in the greenhouse doing great. Three out of four is good for me, so I no longer have to fret about how the h&^* I'll ever get a hold of a Moratia.

-Alloschmidtia glabrata = Basselinia glabrata I have killed several Basselinia gracilis, one Basselinia tomentosa, and a two Basselinia pancheri. I really like the genus but they're seem to prefer death to living. BUT I now have a very healthy and robust Basselinia glabrata...in the ground...through a winter! Genus covered!

The other changes don't help me much. Brongniartikentia (lanuginosa and vaginata) and Lavoixia (macrocarpa) = Clinosperma. I killed my one and only Clinosperma bracteale and I've never seen any of the other available. But I guess this does at least eliminate two of three impossible to get genera, and there are now I think two species of Clinosperma nearly mature in Jeff Marcus garden (both former Brongniartikentia...not sure though, maybe he only has one), which means some day we'll get em.

Matt

San Diego

0.6 Acres of a south facing, gently sloped dirt pile, soon to be impenetrable jungle

East of Mount Soledad, in the biggest cold sink in San Diego County.

Zone 10a (I hope), Sunset 24

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I hope I get my copy soon!!

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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I knew I'd screw this up (a couple margaritas with dinner):

-Moratia is now Cyphokentia This is not a big deal...Jeff Marcus has both of these near seeding size.

-Campecarpus and Veillonia are now Cyphophoenix My comments above about Cyphophoenix still apply...Campecarpus is IMPOSSIBLE to get and even more impossible to grow. But now it's just one species in a genus of 4.

Matt

I just had a chance to browse through the new SoCal palm journal. While I'm stoked to finally get one, I have to say that staring at page after page of photos of dead and damaged palms is not really my cup of tea. But I guess it had to be done (recap of the big freeze that is).

But there is an article on name changes in New Caledonian palms by Don Hodel that really got me pumped. Two biggies:

- Moratia cerifera = Cyphophoenix cerifera and Veillonia alba = Cyphophoenix alba So I now have two of the four Cyphophoenix species growing in my garden, and a third (alba) in the greenhouse doing great. Three out of four is good for me, so I no longer have to fret about how the h&^* I'll ever get a hold of a Moratia.

-Alloschmidtia glabrata = Basselinia glabrata I have killed several Basselinia gracilis, one Basselinia tomentosa, and a two Basselinia pancheri. I really like the genus but they're seem to prefer death to living. BUT I now have a very healthy and robust Basselinia glabrata...in the ground...through a winter! Genus covered!

The other changes don't help me much. Brongniartikentia (lanuginosa and vaginata) and Lavoixia (macrocarpa) = Clinosperma. I killed my one and only Clinosperma bracteale and I've never seen any of the other available. But I guess this does at least eliminate two of three impossible to get genera, and there are now I think two species of Clinosperma nearly mature in Jeff Marcus garden (both former Brongniartikentia...not sure though, maybe he only has one), which means some day we'll get em.

Matt

San Diego

0.6 Acres of a south facing, gently sloped dirt pile, soon to be impenetrable jungle

East of Mount Soledad, in the biggest cold sink in San Diego County.

Zone 10a (I hope), Sunset 24

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Thanks for clearing that up, Matt. Now I know I can skip trying to grow most of these! :winkie:

Received my Journal yesterday. :interesting: I really enjoy reading Don Hodel's articles. They are very thoughtfully worded and organized, and truly informative -- and there are two in this issue!

I have to agree, seeing the photos of damaged palms is a real downer; but to remedy that I can look at my garden here in late July, and it is all revved up. This is the time of year I really love my garden. :wub::drool:

Bill, I'm sure the postal service will come through for you, and you'll be able to add your own comments on the New Caledonia genera. :interesting: *

'

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*My favorite emoticon, had to use it twice!

Kim Cyr

Between the beach and the bays, Point Loma, San Diego, California USA
and on a 300 year-old lava flow, Pahoa, Hawaii, 1/4 mile from the 2018 flow
All characters  in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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Just got mine today after working Phils sale :rolleyes: . Haven't got to the New Cal article yet. :interesting:

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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hi all,

please excuse me in advance cause I have not enough time available today to introduce myself correctly but I promise I will do it asap with a lot of pics ;)

I was thinking its a good tread to start echanging with all of you. I'm from New Caledonia reason why i'm very interesting in this revision of new caledonian palms genera. So many Thanks Matt in SD to start this discussion cause I was searching for some times during last few weeks to do it myself.

Let me add some few information i have.

I learn the news myself just 2-3 weeks ago by making some searches on the web about Campecarpus fulcitus. I found this great article by Jean Cristophe Pintaud (co author with Don Hodel of The Palms of New Caledonia 1999). Article was from last year but was just published online in end of May of this year.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/362633l533378u96/

Unfortunately full text version is now secured and you will need to payed something now for access. I can email it to those of you who are interested in.

As Matt said :

Veillonia alba and Campecarpus fulcitus are now from Cyphophoenix genera.

Both Brongniartikentia and ultra rare Lavoixia macrocarpa are now inside Clinosperma.

Alloschmidia become Basselinia glabrata.

And finally not a big surprise but Moratia is now with Cyphokentia.

to summarize. this incredible article contains as "DVD bonus" :

some explanation about new caledonian subfamily, tribe and subtribe.

some updated Keys for this new revision of genera.

some accurate tables about differences beetween species in the "upgraded" genus like Cyphophoenix, Clinosperma and Cyphokentia.

some doubts on maybe too closely related Actinokentia-Chambeyronia... I have seen myself, in culture, some strong and truncking Actinokentia divaricata you can confuse during few minutes with a form of C.macrocarpa !

finaly and not the less interesting thing...

"As conceived here, the genus Basselinia includes 13 species, instead of 11 in previous treatments (Moore &Uhl 1984; Hodel & Pintaud 1998). Apart from the

inclusion of Alloschmidia, we accept Basselinia eriostachys within section Basselinia, and consequently a narrower definition of Basselinia gracilis. These two

species remain clearly distinct throughout their range and are sometimes co-occurring. In fact, morphotypes corresponding to Basselinia eriostachys are much more common and widespread than those corresponding to Basselinia gracilis, which has a limited distribution in north-eastern New Caledonia (Moore & Uhl 1984;Hodel & Pintaud 1998)."

according to ePIC database from Kew all changes are officialy accepted since June 2008.

http://epic.kew.org/searchepic/searchpage.do

I hope my english is enough correct to be clearly understood. I hope I add something interesting in this tread.

Mat.

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hi all,

please excuse me in advance cause I have not enough time available today to introduce myself correctly but I promise I will do it asap with a lot of pics ;)

I was thinking its a good tread to start echanging with all of you. I'm from New Caledonia reason why i'm very interesting in this revision of new caledonian palms genera. So many Thanks Matt in SD to start this discussion cause I was searching for some times during last few weeks to do it myself.

Let me add some few information i have.

I learn the news myself just 2-3 weeks ago by making some searches on the web about Campecarpus fulcitus. I found this great article by Jean Cristophe Pintaud (co author with Don Hodel of The Palms of New Caledonia 1999). Article was from last year but was just published online in end of May of this year.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/362633l533378u96/

Unfortunately full text version is now secured and you will need to payed something now for access. I can email it to those of you who are interested in.

As Matt said :

Veillonia alba and Campecarpus fulcitus are now from Cyphophoenix genera.

Both Brongniartikentia and ultra rare Lavoixia macrocarpa are now inside Clinosperma.

Alloschmidia become Basselinia glabrata.

And finally not a big surprise but Moratia is now with Cyphokentia.

to summarize. this incredible article contains as "DVD bonus" :

some explanation about new caledonian subfamily, tribe and subtribe.

some updated Keys for this new revision of genera.

some accurate tables about differences beetween species in the "upgraded" genus like Cyphophoenix, Clinosperma and Cyphokentia.

some doubts on maybe too closely related Actinokentia-Chambeyronia... I have seen myself, in culture, some strong and truncking Actinokentia divaricata you can confuse during few minutes with a form of C.macrocarpa !

finaly and not the less interesting thing...

"As conceived here, the genus Basselinia includes 13 species, instead of 11 in previous treatments (Moore &Uhl 1984; Hodel & Pintaud 1998). Apart from the

inclusion of Alloschmidia, we accept Basselinia eriostachys within section Basselinia, and consequently a narrower definition of Basselinia gracilis. These two

species remain clearly distinct throughout their range and are sometimes co-occurring. In fact, morphotypes corresponding to Basselinia eriostachys are much more common and widespread than those corresponding to Basselinia gracilis, which has a limited distribution in north-eastern New Caledonia (Moore & Uhl 1984;Hodel & Pintaud 1998)."

according to ePIC database from Kew all changes are officialy accepted since June 2008.

http://epic.kew.org/searchepic/searchpage.do

I hope my english is enough correct to be clearly understood. I hope I add something interesting in this tread.

Mat.

Hi Mat, welcome to palmtalk. What a great post to start with! Many thanks for the additional information. What species are you growing in your garden?

regards,

Daryl

Gold Coast, Queensland Latitude 28S. Mild, Humid Subtropical climate. Rainfall - not consistent enough!

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Supreme!! :bemused: Thank you all for retreiving and sharing this information. So the Bassellinia eriostachys now is the most widespread palm of the island. Mat, I would really like to see the extremely robust actinokentias. I would like to see what happened then to the Archontophoenicinae.

Here is the summary from Kew Bulletin, picked from Springer:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/362633l533378u96/

A revision of the palm genera ( Arecaceae ) of New Caledonia

Jean-Christophe Pintaud and William J. Baker (APPLAUSE :greenthumb::greenthumb: )

Summary

Knowledge of New Caledonian palms (Arecaceae) has increased dramatically during the past few years with a wealth of new morphological, anatomical, ecological and molecular data now available. This information makes necessary several changes in the definition of New Caledonian endemic genera. In this article, we present a synopsis of all palm genera of New Caledonia and the subtribes to which they belong, keys for their identification, and a checklist of the species with new combinations where necessary. We retain nine genera of Areceae instead of the 15 previously recognised. The monotypic genera Alloschmidia, Campecarpus, Moratia, Lavoixia and Veillonia, and the bispecific genus Brongniartikentia, are reduced into synonymy with other genera. We provide a description and discussion of the correspondingly enlarged genera Basselinia, Cyphophoenix, Cyphokentia and Clinosperma, as well as notes on the four subtribes now recognised on the island: Livistoninae, Archontophoenicinae, Clinospermatinae and Basseliniinae. In addition, we formally incorporate the monotypic genus Lepidorrhachis from Lord Howe Island within the Basseliniinae. As a result of the changes made here at the generic and specific levels, the family Arecaceae in New Caledonia now comprises 10 genera and 38 species. Five new combinations are made.

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Welcome to the board Mat! There is definitely no problem with your English, your post is more clearly worded than many of the native English speakers on the board :mrlooney: I think you may be the first member posting from New Caledonia, at least there aren't very many, so it's definitely great to have you here.

I have also seen some very robust Actinokentia, and thought they were Chambeyronias. Bo ("bgl" on the board) has at least one really big one, and if he reads this I'm sure he'll post a photo.

Do you have a palm garden of your own? We'd love to see photos and hear what you're growing. As you probably know, it is very difficult for us to get seeds of many of the NC palms, so there is almost no growers experiences with some of the really cool ones.

Matt

San Diego

0.6 Acres of a south facing, gently sloped dirt pile, soon to be impenetrable jungle

East of Mount Soledad, in the biggest cold sink in San Diego County.

Zone 10a (I hope), Sunset 24

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MatNC,

Welcome to the IPS PalmTalk Forum! It's great to have someone in New Caledonia active here. And many of the Forum members (including myself) were in New Caledonia in connection with the Biennial in 2000. The hike up Mt. Panie was certainly an unforgettable highlight of that trip! :)

And Matt in SD,

I think this may be the photo you're referring to.

Bo-Göran

post-22-1217175598_thumb.jpg

Leilani Estates, 25 mls/40 km south of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai'i. Elevation 880 ft/270 m. Average rainfall 140 inches/3550 mm

 

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Hi Mat. I'm Len. Do you want a new best friend! I can be it. As best friends we trade palm seed from each others native country. Kind of like pen-pals. To start out our new friendship, please send a few seeds (or seedlings) of Lavoixia macrocarpa, Brongniartikentia and Cyphophoenix cerifera. I will send seed of Washingtonia robusta and Washingtonia filifera.

:lol:

Len

Vista, CA (Zone 10a)

Shadowridge Area

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are."

-- Alfred Austin

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Hi Mat. I'm Len. Do you want a new best friend! I can be it. As best friends we trade palm seed from each others native country. Kind of like pen-pals. To start out our new friendship, please send a few seeds (or seedlings) of Lavoixia macrocarpa, Brongniartikentia and Cyphophoenix cerifera. I will send seed of Washingtonia robusta and Washingtonia filifera.

:lol:

Mat,

Please excuse Len. He is currently now in prison, so he won't be able to supply any seeds.

Anyways, welcome to the forum and it's always nice to have someone from NC. I hope when you have time, you will be able to share some pics. with us all on your garden and or pics. of your native palms in habitat. And thanks for sharing the information.

Jeff

Searle Brothers Nursery Inc.

and The Rainforest Collection.

Southwest Ranches,Fl.

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Mat,

Interestingly if I interpret the text correctly, the authors have worked backwards from the molecular phylogeny, and found the characteristics which appear to differentiate the genera are not always characteristics that have been used in the past to define genera. I wonder if this new set of characteristics will be found to be similar across all palms, and if so, whether widespread mergers of genera will be confirmed in the future.

I guess we have to wait until 8/8/08 for the latest word on that.

chris.oz

Bayside Melbourne 38 deg S. Winter Minimum 0 C over past 6 years

Yippee, the drought is over.

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Hi all,

--> Daryl, thanks for your welcome. till now I cultivate the common ones. I'm now really addicted by our native palm so no doubt the collection will grow faster :winkie:

C.macrocarpa regular and watermelon forms.

K.oliviformis

K.magnifica I'm pretty sure you will agree is not a common one

K.pyriformis purple form

A.divaricata

B.veillardii from seed

B.hapala from seed

B.koghiensis from seed

C.elegans from seed

B.gracilis which is eriostachys now.

--> Carlo, this is exactly the article I can provide you as fulltext version in *.pdf format if you send me a pm with your email adress. Unfortunately I have nothing about those big Actino but I promise you I will ask my friend if I can come back to his garden in order to take those famous pics.

--> Matt, just a container ranch for the moment. I'm actually building my house. So i will start my own garden next year. I own 3000m². I'm pretty sure almost 99,9% will be allowed to palms especially new caledonian ones. I have already a lot of pics from habitat to share with you of some cool ones like you said matt. I will start soon to upload them online for you all. I already seen some of you asking for some ex Campecarpus pics. I can do it with np cause they grow like weeds here :mrlooney:

You can start by checking those topics on the french forum

http://fousdepalmiers.fr/html/forum/viewto...f=29&t=2055

http://fousdepalmiers.fr/html/forum/viewto...f=29&t=2066

http://fousdepalmiers.fr/html/forum/viewto...f=29&t=2224

http://fousdepalmiers.fr/html/forum/viewto...f=29&t=2233

--> Bo, many thanks for your welcome too. I already seen some you talking about this biennal here. It seems it was a great event. Again many other thanks to you to share tose famous pics of your garden and all your knowledge. I read all those Dypsis mistery tread you took part in with a lot of interest. I Already post some links of some of your topics on the french forum and everyone was amazed. I'm trying to organised a trip to Mt Panié with one of my best friend maybe this year. first time for me. no doubt it will be an unforgetable aventure !

--> Len... I have already some other guys like you in pm trying to make me their best friend. :hmm: So please remember to send me only fresh seed of those difficult to germinate and ultra rare seeds of washies ! and np with those seeds you ask for... you have to know that Pritchardiopsis and Lavoixia grow like weeds here. I know we already have a weed specialist on the board who has fall in love with the very common K.piersoniorum (very easy to fall in love with that one... it's Eva Mendes of palms :mrlooney: ) So to come back to our local weeds, I'm walking on them every morning when I leave home for work. So I will try to save several thousands for you if you are really interested in. But please name them correctly, not Cyphophoenix cerifera but Cyphokentia cerifera :angry:

--> Jeff :/ I'm very disapointed about famous washingtonia seeds from Len... Can you supply me those one or maybe it's too hard to find like Queen palm seeds for u ?! :mrlooney: I promise you I will share all the pics I will take.

--> Michael, I answerd your pm and send you an email with a copy of the document.

--> Chris, interesting document... n'est ce pas ?! Not pretty sure to follow you with the date but I understand you are talking about the new edition of genera palmarum

Time to sleep.

Mat.

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I think Mat will fit in here just fine. B)

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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Bill, have you already been to his house and looked in his greenhouse? :)

Len

Vista, CA (Zone 10a)

Shadowridge Area

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are."

-- Alfred Austin

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Mat,

I note that you are growing native species mainly.

I am interested whether there is much of a desire in NC for people to plant non native palm species.

Surely on islands so rich in unique palm flora, the planting of indigenous species alone

ought to be encouraged.

Do you see many species of non native palms growing there in the towns?

Are the native species as hard to grow there as they are for many of us.?

chris.oz

Bayside Melbourne 38 deg S. Winter Minimum 0 C over past 6 years

Yippee, the drought is over.

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Hi Mat,

You're growing some nice plants. I've grown (or tried) all of those except K oliviformis and A divaricata. Overall the only one's I've had trouble with are Basselinia gracilis (OK in pots, died in the ground, but got too much sun I think) and K magnifica (seedlings lived for a couple of years and then suddenly died).

I'm really curious about your mention of a "Purple form" of Kentiopsis pyrifomis. I heard from our piersonirum obsessed member (BS Man for those that don't know) that there is a green form and a purple form. The green form supposedly is much slower. I have two K pyriformis, one is extremely slow and is VERY dark green, both leaves and stem/crown. The other is lighter in color, the crown purplish green, and it gets a nice purplish red new leaf. This form is growing more than 2X as fast as my other one. So I think I have two different forms of this palm. Have you heard of these two forms? Any cultivation or habitat differences that you know of? This might be worth a new thread, but unfortunately I don't have a camera right now so probably better if someone else starts one with actual photos.

Also, do you know why it is so hard to get seeds of many of the NC species? Are there strict regulations, or are they just hard to get to and there are not enough starving people on the island motivated to pick seeds for less than $10 each? As I'm sure you can tell, quite a few of us are rather obsessed with the palms of your island!

Matt

San Diego

0.6 Acres of a south facing, gently sloped dirt pile, soon to be impenetrable jungle

East of Mount Soledad, in the biggest cold sink in San Diego County.

Zone 10a (I hope), Sunset 24

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Hi all,

I'm pretty angry... I lost everything I wrote and it was not just few lines :rage:

Play again :angry:

Chris, There is a lot of non native palm growing here in New Cal. They are everywhere ! For example some town like La Foa, Moindou or Païta etc... have their own favourites palm specie. Len will laugh for sure... La Foa Palm is Washingtonia... Païta palm is Archontophoenix alexandrae (Several hundreds of them oO) I Moindou it's Roystonea (I know some of you saw them in 2000. I already seen Bo talking about this place. exept Moindou, where there is an history for the presence of those Roystonea, it's pretty uninteresting in my point of view.

If you want to see caledonian beauties you have to go trough Noumea. They are pretty rare and quite difficult to find in the big amount of palm growing everywhere in garden and public place. I know some regular Chambey mac, 2 K.oliviformis and a Cyphophoenix elegans. Few month ago the local palm association "chambeyronia" (http://www.endemia.nc/organismes/chambeyronia.htm), from which I'm a member, start landscaping a small place, via a contractor, with only local palm species. You will find 4 Chambey mac, 4 K.oliviformis, 1 K.Pyriformis, 4 K.Piersoniorum and 4 Cyphophoenix elegans. It will become a very nice place for sure. They are all growing in full sun. I will try to take some pics of them for u. In "parc forestier" you can find some. But they are very few and not highlighted. Some Chambey, Some K.oliviformis, Some Burret, Some ex-Veillonia, a Cyphophoenix elegans, an Actino divaricata and a Prichardiopsis ! No label for them and they are hidden. Next to them you can find a palmetum with some Phoenix, Washies, Sabal, Livistonia, Syagrus, Veitchia, Ptychosperma etc... All labeled :/ In tontouta (airport town) you can find on a place a nice bunch of full sun grown Chambey mac. Maybe twenty of them. Amazing !

In Noumea you will find a lot of non native species. Each available square meter of green is fitted with a palm. Livistonia, Phoenix, Pritchardia, Sabal, Veitchia, Ptychosperma, Dyctiosperma, Cirtostachys, Vershaffeltia, Latania, Wodeytia, Dypsis lutescens, cabadae, decaryi, leptocheilos, sp. fine leaf, madagascariensis, Licuala, Syagrus, Cocos, etc.......... A lot more. I'm pretty sure that 90% of new cal personal garden are fitted with some palms. And 99,9% of those palms are non native species exept in private collection. 0,1% left is for some Chambeyronia :/ Really sad to me

About difficulties to grow our caledonian palm here, I have not enough experience behind me to talk about it I think. Bo post this things few weeks ago :

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?sh...&hl=pierson

Jean and Chantal Pierson from New Caledonia visited the Big Island just over a week ago. They were instrumental in planning the Biennial in New Caledonia in 2000, and Kentiopsis piersoniorum is of course named after them. They were amazed at how well all the New Caledonia palms do here, and ironically, they have great difficulties growing a number of them at their place close to Noumea. Many of the palms are from Mt. Panie and soil and rainfall is quite different in Noumea. As I mentioned in another Actinokentia thread recently, this palm is a reasonably fast and predictable grower here.

I have no particular problem with the species I grow my self. I will not talk about K.magnifica and pyriformis I just bought some weeks ago. I find K.oliviformis is a good grower and I'm with pot for the moment. not as fast as a V.arecina or Wodeytia but a good grower for sure. Np with chambey. And all my Burret and Cyphophoenix seedlings (2 leafs at all) seem to be faster than a lot of other common one like Pychosperma elegans, Archontophoenix alexandrae, Dypsis baronii, Dictyosperma etc... I can't talk now about rarer ones and difficult ones like ex-Campecarpus, some Basselinia's etc...

I'm growing a bit more than 40 species for the moment so i own some other non native I started with. I'm now 100% in new cal palm.

Mat.

Edited by MatNC
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Hi matt,

What a pretty interesting thing ! New cal palm form !

Bill is right about the existence of 2 distinct form of K.pyriformis. I'm sure you have as bedside book The palms of New Caledonia form JC Pintaud and Don Hodel. They were already talking about those different forms. Both are from the extreme southern part of the territory.

The "green" one is from the East coast near Goro (not the new nickel plant but the village). Here we name it K.pyriformis Kuebini (Kuebini is the right location). It's growing at few meters from the sea. It seem to be very criticaly endangered cause of common fire in this spot (Pintaud and Hodel were already saying the same in 1999 see p6 plate 2 and pic E). I have not seen it myself in habit but will do it soon. But I already saw them in cultivation several times. Will check if i have some pics of it. Check the book for the right description.

The "purple" one... Eva Mendes is nothing compared to it... This one is growing on the other side. west coast. Near the only one adult Pritchardiopsis in the wild ! And very close to the new nickel plant called Goro Nickel. Maybe you heard something about it. It's the biggest industrial site erection at that time. Where there is some problem regarding environement etc... but this is not the subject. It seems that very few Know the right location. I find it myself. What a surprise ! The book is talking about "port boisé". It's not the right name for me. Reason why it was a surprise. Port boisé was not the location where I was.

So. I have some pics in habitat. some pics in cultivation of nearly trunking one. Some of my seedling. And I'll go back to this spot within few days. So you will have soon lot of fresh pics in an new topic as you asked for matt.

I will ask one of my friend about any difference of cultivation beetween both form. I'm sure he will detailled everything he knows and experiment.

About your seed question. Hard to us too. Some are very difficult to access. I'm thinking to K.piersoniorum for example. May be 80% of species will take you several hours minimum to reach them. and I'm not talking about walking on beach. It's about mountain. I'm not talking about 5 Km but i already make 20km to reach some particular spot. It's common. location are not exactly known. Some species have very restricted area of occurence. All the northern part of the territory is now a botanical reserve. You have no right to pick up some seeds inside a botanical reserve. And there is already some example of penal pursuit. Going to Mont Panié is difficult now. You have to ask for an accepted guid. For a lot of area in the northern part you will have to ask for access to local tribal autority. Some seeds take 2 years maybe more to be fully ripe. You have to know when they are ripe. And birds are eating them first. Some species seems to not flower each year. You can't leave Noumea just for a day to go to northern part. It's a mini indiana jones trip each time. another important things is that 99,9% of caledonian don't know there are native palms here. sure I don't know all the reason. just some ideas. But please don't think that seeds are falling next to our doors and we don't want to share with others. Please remember it's difficult to us to obtain seeds too.

Mat.

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Having studied Chamaedorea and grown some 20-30 species i my own garden, it was with expectation that I went to Mexico, feeling that I would see some of these wonderful native palms there............. Wrong. Not one did I see in Mexico city. Not even in Hotel lobbies. But Phoenix canariensis.... Lots of them.

Seeing the most popular Pritchardias planted in Hawaii are not native, I guess what you say about Noumea doesnt really surprise me.

But your comments help me to understand why it is so, and apart from Chambeyronia, I have found NC palms difficult to grow from seed so I will leave it to others to try them now. By all accounts the similar species from Fiji are similarly difficult in cultivation. [Except for wonderful palm growing regions like Bo Gorans].

chris.oz

Bayside Melbourne 38 deg S. Winter Minimum 0 C over past 6 years

Yippee, the drought is over.

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Mat,

Thanks a lot for your additional, and most detailed, explanations! Very helpful and interesting. And yes, I can certainly understand the difficulties involved with getting seeds in New Caledonia. Apart from the fact that you can't legally just visit Mt. Panié and pick seeds, it's a difficult and strenous hike, and we were of course fortunate in that we had three helicopters that were ferrying the Biennial participants halfway up on the mountain. I sat next to the pilot and looked down on an ocean of palms, many of which were opening up new red fronds. What a memory! :)

Bo-Göran

Leilani Estates, 25 mls/40 km south of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai'i. Elevation 880 ft/270 m. Average rainfall 140 inches/3550 mm

 

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Mat,

The board now has members from exotic and hard to get to areas like Reunion Island, the depths of the Amazon, Costa Rica, etc etc and now you in NC.

We always see lots of photos from gardens, but I just love good habitat photos, so if you have spome to contribute, I, for one would be chuffed.

chris.oz

Bayside Melbourne 38 deg S. Winter Minimum 0 C over past 6 years

Yippee, the drought is over.

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Hi MatNC,

Thanks for an outstanding report on NC palms and on the typical palms being grown around the place. It is so refreshing to read that you as a New Caledonian are focused on growing native palms. I hope you get a great collection growing in the future. Aussie ratpack identity (NEWCAL) also has a big interest in NC palms. People like yourself are needed more than ever in this time of industry and farming with neglect to natural fauna and flora.

Like to see photos of your island travels too.

Happy Gardening

Cheers,

Wal

Queensland, Australia.

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Thanks Mat for the info. I do have the Palms of NC book and re-read the K pyriformis info this morning (funny, but I had forgotten that I had the book!). I am not sure from the descriptions there what forms I have. It says one form is has purplish-red to purple crownshaft, while the other form has a "copper colored" crownshaft. I have to say that I can't picture what "copper colored" would really look like. My slower palm that is much darker does have a metallic look to the leaf sheaths, but I wouldn't say it's "copper colored". Anyways, it will be interesting to see how these turn out, they seem very promising so far, much faster than piersoniorum, but just as nice looking.

And I'll second/third the motion for some habitat photos. If you get overwhelmed with the PMs and demands for photos and info (and seeds!), you can contact Bruno in Madagascar and he can probably share some similar stories with you. There was definitely a lot of "excitement" when he joined as well.

Matt

San Diego

0.6 Acres of a south facing, gently sloped dirt pile, soon to be impenetrable jungle

East of Mount Soledad, in the biggest cold sink in San Diego County.

Zone 10a (I hope), Sunset 24

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Interesting news with regards to Genera merging. I was under the impression Veillonia was more closely aligned with Burretiokentia than Cyphophoenix. It certainly looks more like Burretiokentia to me.

Tim Brisbane

Patterson Lakes, bayside Melbourne, Australia

Rarely Frost

2005 Minimum: 2.6C,  Maximum: 44C

2005 Average: 17.2C, warmest on record.

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This is great information but the changes are coming so fast my head is spinning. I will try to digest this before next weeks changes.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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Hi all,

Kentiopsis pyriformis purple form in habitat. Pics will tell by themself...

DSCN2299.JPG

DSCN2333.JPG

DSCN2317.JPG

DSCN2318.JPG

Mat.

Edited by MatNC
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Beautiful photos/illustrations. Thanks for posting these.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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Wow!

Gold Coast, Queensland Latitude 28S. Mild, Humid Subtropical climate. Rainfall - not consistent enough!

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