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It's official: 'Filibusta' is named and a type specimen selected


fastfeat

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Don Hodel has described and collected samples of the type specimen for the now-officially named Washingtonia x filibusta. Detailed description, comparisons to parent species, and representative photos can be found at Phytoneuron.net. The particular tree selected is on Desert Trace Way, off Jackson St, in Indio; the street planting here displays this hybrid's features at their best. Congrats to Don for getting this published.

http://www.phytoneuron.net/2014Phytoneuron/68PhytoN-Washingtoniahybrid.pdf

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SoCal and SoFla; zone varies by location.

'Home is where the heart suitcase is'...

_____

"If, as they say, there truly is no rest for the wicked, how can the Devil's workshop be filled with idle hands?"

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Tell me more about this, does anyone have it growing ? What are the differences ?

Happy Gardening

Cheers,

Wal

Queensland, Australia.

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Tell me more about this, does anyone have it growing ? What are the differences ?

Wal, There are tens of thousands of W.x filibusta in CA alone. It's simply a cross between W. robusta and W. filifera hence the name filibusta. It grows in hot humid areas where W. filifera does poorly and is more cold tolerant than W. robusta.

Jim in Los Altos, CA  SF Bay Area 37.34N- 122.13W- 190' above sea level

zone 10a/9b

sunset zone 16

300+ palms, 90+ species in the ground

Las Palmas Design

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The only exception that I have with the description is that there is one barrier for natural hybridization that was not mentioned. Around here they do not fruit at the same time. Right now W. robusta is in full bloom.....not so for the few W. filifera around.

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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These are my favorite W. filibusta in Panama City area.

post-97-0-28064100-1404405697_thumb.jpgpost-97-0-91361500-1404405710_thumb.jpg

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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There are filibusta all over my neighborhood. My neighbor's house has his entire front yard planted with them, and there are several others around. I don't think this is intentional, it's actually hard to get pure robusta these days.

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Thanks for the link.

I like all of them. They're pretty rare here and only grow in sheltered spots in the southern part of my country.

Is it true that filibusta handles wet conditions better than filifera?

Flo

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Interesting to see this described and named. I see more and more intermediate types around here.

Here is one in the parking lot at Disney's EPCOT, the tallest one 2nd to the right

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Here is one in the parking lot of Sea World Orlando

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A tall one northeast of Orlando in Oviedo

img_5047.jpg

Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

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Another one in Disney's EPCOT, near the Test Track ride. It is the one on the far right;

117_8080_zps60c19c7f.jpg

Closeup of the trunks, notice how much thicker it is is, trunk on the far right

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The same group of palms from another angle, the hybrid is 2nd to the right

117_8076_zps14f4d56f.jpg

Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

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One more I have photos of. This one is growing at Fashion Square Mall in Orlando

img_1372.jpg

img_1373.jpg

Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

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Sometimes pure robustas just look plain scrawny to me, although this may be due to poor nursery practices sometimes like overcrowding. Having a little filifera mixed in makes robustas look better many times IMHO.

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

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I think this is a very important point, and something we shouldn't overlook:

"Unless growers gather seeds from wild, natural stands or cultivated trees of one species sufficiently isolated to preclude hybridization, Washingtonia × filibusta will continue to become more common in the landscape, eventually replacing W. filifera and W. robusta. This trend is of considerable concern in urban areas in the Coachella Valley, such as Palm Springs, where Washingtonia × filibusta or cultivated W. robusta could genetically contaminate nearby wild stands of W. filifera."

Washies may not be the sexiest palms around, but many palm enthuiasts caught the bug observing them.

Personally, I think the hybrids are more attractive than either parent, though the 110' W. robusta one occasionally encounters in SoCal always makes me go "WOW!" as I contemplate how it successfully remains upright.

Land O Lakes FL, a suburb on the North Side of Tampa, FL

Summers are great, 90f/32c in the day & 70f/21c at night with plentiful rain & sun

Winters are subtropical with occasional frosts and freezes. Tropical cyclones happen.

We have a few Royal palms in the warm microclimates but Coconuts freeze.

I am a Kayaker, Hiker, Bicyclist, and amateur Photographer that loves the outdoors.  

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Oh no, he's really gone and opened up a can of worms. These are all robusta, in habitat:

2m3p9ap.jpg
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I think you meant to say filifera.

Jim in Los Altos, CA  SF Bay Area 37.34N- 122.13W- 190' above sea level

zone 10a/9b

sunset zone 16

300+ palms, 90+ species in the ground

Las Palmas Design

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Las Palmas Design & Associates

Elegant Homes and Gardens

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Hmm lots of variation in that natural population, skinny trunks, fat trunk, look at those glossy green leaves though, he said robusta, I wonder if he didn't actually mean robusta as he said.

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

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No, those are W. robusta from Sonora

Those fat trunked ones aren't likely robusta. Pure robusta have slender trunks all the way up. Picture one looks like filifera or filibusta to me.

Jim in Los Altos, CA  SF Bay Area 37.34N- 122.13W- 190' above sea level

zone 10a/9b

sunset zone 16

300+ palms, 90+ species in the ground

Las Palmas Design

Facebook Page

Las Palmas Design & Associates

Elegant Homes and Gardens

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They're robusta, before Bailey visited the site (Nacapule Canyon) they were known as W. sonorae - and he didn't hesitate to throw them in with robusta. Remember there were 4 or 5 species of Washingtonia before Bailey got ahold of them. He noticed small unreliable traits that were variable in the genus, but found that the filifera group and robusta group had certain tendencies and virtually always a distinct hastula, with the bright green, glossy, tall thin robustas having short hastulas and the northern dull green, fat, massive filifera possessing much longer hastulas. Unfortunately Hodel left this out in his key. Most hybrids (assuming that's what they are) tend to favor robusta's shorter hastula. The genetics is long from settled, I'd be surprised if there aren't intermediate genetic forms in the wild even if they do favor one parent more than the other.

The Sonoran form is towards the northern end of robusta and I believe farther south than any filifera, so it should be no surprise to see something there which is intermediate/favoring robusta. Bailey mentioned he did not see trees which he considered hybrids; it's not a stretch to think he was so convinced by his hastula test that he dismissed other signs of intergrading. The benefit of the doubt has to go to him, I believe he looked at more Washingtonia in the wild than anyone and he surely saw some robusta that had filifera-like traits and vice versa so he wanted something consistent. Cultivated plants in the early 20th century probably came from either the Palm Springs area (filifera) or southern Baja (robusta), which seem to represent the two most extreme forms within the genus. F1 hybrids were probably rare in cultivation back then or one parent dominated enough that the plant in question fit inside of the parameters of what Bailey had seen in the wild.

Incidentally this is not the first published article recognizing an intermediate form of Washingtonia; one was published way back in the 1970s in an obscure Japanese journal, though I don't believe they gave their described form an official name (it's been probably 20-24 years since I've seen the article, memory is a little fuzzy).

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Many of these ''Fulibusta'' palms on photos are not really hybrids. They are pure Robustas.

Robusta is very variable species. And there is many different forms even in wild. After revision of the taxonomy, few different species of Washingtonia are merged with Robusta. And now we have 2 species in modern taxonomy.

Real hybrids, real Filibustas are rare, because Robusta and Filifera bloom at different times ( very strange that author of the article overlooked that important information ). So it is very difficult to get hybrid naturally .

Edited by Cikas
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  • 2 weeks later...

... and at which time of year does each sp bloom exactly?

post-6141-0-92746700-1405344729_thumb.jppost-6141-0-25563400-1405344743_thumb.jppost-6141-0-00886400-1405344762_thumb.jp

Here's a plant of mine, originally thought to be a filibusta, but after I saw the first picture on this recent paper and after I read the replies in this topic, doubts arise again! Has anyone considered whether color of inflorescence's peduncle is a distinction feature? I have observed that on picture 1 of this paper peduncles are bright green. What about if they are purplish/reddish?

Edited by Phoenikakias
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... and at which time of year does each sp bloom exactly?

Filifera - Late spring/early summer

Robusta - Late summer/early autumn

Edited by Cikas
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... and at which time of year does each sp bloom exactly?

Filifera - Late spring/early summer

Robusta - Late summer/early autumn

its not late summer and koeppens robusta is clearly in bloom. theres no way its a filifera (purple on the petiole). from what i can tell robusta blooms all year long. im looking at one outside of my shop right now. it has seeds and flowers hanging all over it.

"it's not dead it's sleeping"

Santee ca, zone10a/9b

18 miles from the ocean

avg. winter 68/40.avg summer 88/64.records 113/25

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Washingtonia robusta needs a lot less heat units to bloom, in California it blooms at different times all year around depending on the weather. Washingtonia filifera needs a lot more heat to bloom and tends to bloom only once in the Summer. The inflorescence of filifera hangs down far past the crown much in the same manner that brahea armata does. Looks very different from robusta. There is a very high likelihood of cross pollination.

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Now seriously, I do not see any response about the color of inflorescence's peduncle. Is there anyone who has seen a filibusta with brown (instead of green) such peduncle?

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Ones I considered to be Filiferas here are about to bloom and all have green peduncles.

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Thanks Ante! have you observed also brown peduncles on specimens in your area, which are beyond any doubt robusta?

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Well, now it is time for you to start paying attention regarding this aspect Ante! It might prove very interesting...

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This is what I assumed is Filifera. Its grown from seed I picked up from plant with green peduncles mentioned above. But now when I consider few more details Im more and more sure its x Filibusta. I ll try to take a pic of parent palm soon.

This one is taken in April last year:

IMAG6562_zpsd0e591a0.jpg

and these are taken few hours ago

IMAG1945_zpsyjjbuwvw.jpg

IMAG1948_zps1pznwtp0.jpg

IMAG1950_zps6wcdlgox.jpg

IMAG1951_zps8y200e08.jpg

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Here's what I would consider to be an xfilibusta, with a leaf tending more towards robusta. Filifera and many hybrids are in bloom right now, robusta is seeding but a few, very few, are reblooming. This one is lagging robusta but ahead of filifera.

qnk75y.jpg

14jp79y.jpg

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21mc36v.jpg

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2z6uq1c.jpg

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Now I can testified from first hand that both species are blooming at same time. So hybridization is more than obvious.

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  • 8 years later...
On 7/3/2014 at 5:26 PM, richtrav said:

Oh no, he's really gone and opened up a can of worms. These are all robusta, in habitat:

 

 

 
 

So there is always a lot of hubbub on the forum about how "pure" a particular Washingtonia is, and it seems that only the most pencil thin ones get the title of pure robusta.  But I remembered this thread, and how variable robusta is in habitat, so I think this is the thread I was looking for but it seems these photos are no longer visible. @richtrav do you still have these available to post and would you mind putting them back up?

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

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These are a few I have from Nacapule Canyon in Sonora. Papers I’ve read recently want to put just about everything in Washingtonia south of California and northernmost Baja into robusta. It seems like only the robustas in southernmost Baja near Los Cabos are consistently what people want to think of as “real” robusta with the super skinny trunk and very tall heights. But most areas where robusta grows seem to have at least some that look like hybrids. The last picture is a grove of robusta near Los Cabos.

 

1.JPG

washingtonias nacapule.jpg

1.JPG

1.JPG

Open baja.png.png

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Yes, these are the photos I was thinking of, amazing variation in robusta. Looks like the Washingtonia genus is only the stereotypical two phenotypes in its far northern and southern ends. Everything in between is, well, in between. 

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Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

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Just now, Xerarch said:

Yes, these are the photos I was thinking of, amazing variation in robusta. Looks like the Washingtonia genus is only the stereotypical two phenotypes in its far northern and southern ends. Everything in between is, well, in between. 

My guess is only the thinnest ones with the biggest crowns made it into cultivation,  Maybe the people who collected and used this palm in residential and commercial landscape only collected from a certain style of robusta, and as a result the robusta today in the US are offspring from these?

Just a guess, I have no credibility just a guess

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Lucas

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This is the first time I’ve seen photos of washies in habitat, I was just looking for photos yesterday and couldn’t find any so these photos are awesome 😍

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