Identifying Trachycarpus nanus

[tank]

A couple pics of my T. nanus grown from seed purchased through Rarepalmseeds.com. Just wondering how you key this plant out. Other than the fact that the palm is about 8 yrs old and is still only about 3.5' tall, with no real trunk to speak of, it really doesn't look that different from T. fortunei. Leaves may be more dissected than your standard fortunei. Just want to make sure I have what I think I have.

Thanks

[Bananengeknl]

Not real nanus. . I think Trachycarpus manipur?

[tank]

Not real nanus. . I think Trachycarpus manipur?

Are you growing T. nanus?

[JLeVert]

This is T. nanus; it's a fifteen year old plant that bears seed every year:

[Bananengeknl]

Yes, this year planted in full ground.

[Bananengeknl]

Woooow Joe!!, can you post a pic form the trunk/stem?

[Mandrew968]

Tank, I can't tell. Looks well grown though...

[tank]

Leaves look less dissected in mine that the others. It is in a shady spot under a pine tree. This plant is not trunking and has a distinct lean or "creep" to it as it pushes out along the ground.

Never seen T. "manipur" in person, but mine doesn't look like the photos on the internets. Wouldn't mind if it was a T. manipur

[tank]

Thanks Joe and Bananengeknl for the pictures of your plants.

Joe, I'd love to purchase some of your seed if you think that the seeds aren't hybrids with any other Trachys, assuming you have other Trachycarpus species in your yard.

[fishmanejr]

Joe, I too would like to purchase some of your seed if you think they aren't hybrids. Please PM me if you are willing to part with some of them!

[JLeVert]

I don't think that the seed are hybridized. T. nanus blooms at a different time as T. fortunei. I'll check, but I think that all of this year's seed are gone already.

[Bigfish]

Not real nanus. . I think Trachycarpus manipur?

Definitely not T. manipur. Looks like T. nanus to me, but hard to tell at that age.

[tank]

Went out and looked at the plant yesterday and one thing that makes me lean back to nanus is that all of the "less dissected" portions of the leaves are wanting to split and most of these "fatter" leaflets have partial splits in their middle areas. If all of these split as the plant ages, and it continues to not form a trunk, I would feel better about calling it T. nanus. Also, the backsides of the leaves are glaucous.

[ghar41]

I would say both post #1 and #4 are T nanus. There are two distinct variations growing in China currently under the same species taxon.

The first is found in habitat near Yongcheng, Yunnan, China is bluish gray, glaucous on both sides of the leaf and from a relatively dry climate. They possess deeply folded, narrow segments on the leaf. I would guess this variety is the plant in post #4.

The second type, found on Mount Jizu Shan, Yunnan, China, is very different. In habitat they carry fewer, softer, green leaves with flat slender leaflets on long petioles. They generally grow in deeper shade with more moisture. This one looks like post #1.

I started mine from seed obtained from Toby Spanner also. He posts from time to time here on PT, so maybe he will chime in here and tell us more about nanus.

[Brad Mondel]

Wow! Those nanus are superb.