Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

[Kathryn]

On the Tuesday after the Searle Brother's Spring Plant Extravaganza, I spent the day at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and took a few pictures. I tried to write down the palms as I was taking pictures, but I may have missed a few and probably misspelled many.

Kentiopsis oliviformis

Dypsis pembana

Dypsis pembana - Up close showing split growth

[Kathryn]

Kerriodoxa elegans

Kerriodoxa elegans – close-up showing seeds

[Jeff Searle]

Kate,

How are you? It's good to see you had a nice day at FTG. Your pictures are excellent, and I only hope there will be more to follow. You know, after all these years going there myself, I have never seen the Kerriodoxa fruiting. For that matter, I have never seen seed on this species at all. What a great find!

   And on a side note.....thanks again for coming down to our plant sale, we all enjoyed having you!(especially the BBQ guys! :laugh: ).

Jeff

[Kathryn]

Thanks Jeff. I thought the fruiting Kerriodoxa was pretty cool myself. There was a sign asking people not to remove the seeds. I removed the sign for the picture and then put it back. I'm not interested in the seed, but love the look of the contrast between the black stems and white fruit - glad no one removed them.

As for the trip down, I had a great time and will be back soon - tell the BBQ guys to bring more beer next time. I haven't driven a stick since high school and really enjoyed Andrea's mustang for the day. I appreciate her letting me use it.

And yes, there will be more pictures of some interesting features of palms at Fairchild.

Kate

[Kathryn]

This was a cool area that had Thrinax morrisii, Coccothrinax argentata and Coccothrinax crinita with some Livistona chinensis in the background.

There was a group of volunteers "collecting" the chinensis seedlings. I asked them what they were collecting them for and they stated that they were just weeding. They offered to give me some, but unfortunately, I didn't need them. I guess I should have taken them just to save them from the trash pile. Now I feel bad about it.

Kate

[Kris]

Dear Kate  

Great stills and wish to see more from that garden.

Thanks & Love,

Kris.

[Kathryn]

Copernicia baileyana

[Kathryn]

Copernicia macroglossa

[Kathryn]

Dictyosperma album

[Kathryn]

It's hard to see in the photos, but I liked this one because of the spines on the trunk.

Archontophoenix ruba

[Kathryn]

Copernicia fallaensis

[Kathryn]

I liked the great grayish green color of this palm - especially in the second photo.

Hyphaene petersiana

According to the palm bible (An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms), Hyphaene petersiana is indigenous to central southern Africa and grows in open savannas and along streams and rivers in desert areas. It attains heights of 60 feet and is faster growing than other species in the genus. The book has a picture of some tall ones in Florida.

[Kathryn]

This isn't a very impressive example of this species, but I liked the way the leaves looked in the light.

Lodoicea maldivica

If I'm not mistaken, I think this palm has the largest seed of all plants. Anyone know if this is correct?

[Kathryn]

No spectacular red leaves here, but I was impressed by the height - especially since mine are in pots and haven't even developed a trunk yet!

Chambeyronia macrocarpa

[Kathryn]

Again, not very impressive for some folks, but I don't normally see this size either.

Howea forsteriana

[Kathryn]

Pritchardia palms are some of my favorites - I wish I could grow them here.

Pritchardia species

[Kathryn]

These palms were a hot item at the Rainforest Extravaganza.

Carpoxylon macrospermum

According to the palm bible, the genus name is derived from two Greek words meaning “fruit” and “wood” and the epithet from two Greek words meaning “large” and “seed”. This palm, endemic to the Vanuatu islands (setting of the TV show Survivor a few years ago), was thought to be extinct, know only from descriptions of its fruits and seeds until discovered in cultivation on the island of Espiritu Santo by Australian botanist John L. Dowe in 1987.

According to Wikipedia, Espiritu Santo (from the Spanish espíritu santo, "Holy Ghost", sometimes called just Santo) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with a surface area of 3955.5 km².

You can learn all kinds of neat stuff when researching palms.

[Kathryn]

This is about the time I got tired of taking pictures and just walked around, paying more attention to the palms than the camera. I still took a few pictures of various palm features I found interesting.

Like the massive leaf bases and the black-edged petioles on this Borassus madagascariensis.

I didn’t find Borassus madagascariensis in any of my palm books. Palms Throughout the World listed B. aethiopum and B. flabellifer, Betrock’s Cultivated Palms of the World listed both of these species along with a B. flabellifer hybrid that is common in cultivation. The palm bible also mentions B. sambiranensis, which is critically endangered and endemic to northeastern Madagascar - could this be the same one. It states that some taxonomists think there is but one variable species in this genus, but most put the number at four to seven species.

[Kathryn]

Colpothrinax wrightii

From the palm encyclopedia - The genus name combines the Greek work meaning “swollen”, referring to the trunks of the Cuban species, and Thrinax, a similar genus, although Colpothrinax is much more closely related to Pritchardia.

[Kathryn]

I liked the persistent leaf bases on the lower section of the trunk of this Livistona benthamii.

The encyclopedia states that this palms is adaptable to zones 9 through 11. I think I need to get one!

[Kathryn]

Here is another Borassus, B. flabellifer, showing black leaf bases and petioles.

[Kathryn]

Notice the yellow Chihuly spikes in the background.

Latania lontaroides x loddigesii

[paulgila]

wow,great photos!i have wanted to take a tour of fbg

for a long time.thanks for making it happen!

[Kathryn]

Pseudophoenix vinifera

Palm Encyclopedia – endemic to dry hillsides on Hispaniola (as many of us saw in the Republic of Dominica), where it is in danger of extension.

An interesting feature of this genus is that the inflorescences grow from the leaf crown in contradiction to most other crown-shafted palm species in which they are borne from beneath the shaft.

[Kathryn]

See some more Chihuly in the background on the right.

Hyophorbe lagenicaulis

From the Encyclopedia – The genus name is Greek for “pig” and “food”, the allusion probably to the fruits being at one time used for fodder. The epithet is derived from two Greek words meaning “bottle” and “stem”.

[Kathryn]

I was also getting tired of pulling out my pen and pad to write down the palms as I photographed them. I didn’t write down the name of this palm – thinking I would remember it.

I really liked the spiral leaf bases.

[Kathryn]

I thought these were Livistona chinensis and only took the picture because of the split trunk. When looking at the label realized they are L. boninensis, which were once considered a variety of L. chinensis.

Other side:

From the Encyclopedia – This palm is endemic to the Bonin Archipelago southeast of the main Japanese islands.

.

[Kathryn]

I'm not big into the Chihuly stuff, but did take a picture of this nice piece near the entrance.

[Kathryn]

And, one of my favorite parts of visiting Fairchild is the tree “tunnel” on Old Cutler Road, although the canopy seemed a lot less dense than the last time I was there, thanks to numerous hurricanes I guess.

That's all folks! Now I'm on my way to a crawfish boil.

Kathryn

[Zac in NC]

The spiral leaf base one is Corypha utan I believe.

Zac

[SubTropicRay]

Great photos Kate.  Did you see what I call the "John Bishock Metroxylon"?  It's hidden along the southern boundary of the property and has attained incredible size considering it's a marginal south Florida palm.

Ray

[Jeff Searle]

Hey Kate

    Great pictures. So you really did go to  FTG>>>only kidding.

     I want it all.  Jeff only brings home the plalms no one else wants ( 3 gallon size of course). I'm glad you came down to work. Next time come down to play. See you soon.    

                                             Andy

[Kris]

Dear Kate  

fentastic coverage of the fairchild botanical garden,the bottle

palm and the copernica,borassus flabellifer looked terrefic.

and a question to palm Guru's that spiral palm thought to be

C.Utan was it trimmed in a circular fashion or its just

natural occurence ?

And Bo Goran have you seen the Borassus Flabellifer,this is

best Sp of borassus,and it seems you are growing one

in your garden... onces the dried leaves all fall of you have a massive shinning black trunk.its very beautiful to look at.

And Kate,thanks a lot !

Love,

Kris  

[bgl]

Kathryn,

Fairchild is definitely one of my favorite places, and I really enjoyed all your photos. Excellent coverage!!! Thanks a lot!! And, you're correct that Lodoicea maldivica has the largest seed of any plant.

And Kris,

Actually, we have a total of five Borassus flabellifer in our garden, but they are all still fairly small.

Bo-Göran

[Kris]

(bgl @ Mar. 18 2007,01:43)

QUOTE

Kris,

Actually, we have a total of five Borassus flabellifer in our garden..

Bo-Göran

Bo Goran iam very glad to hear that !  

Love,

Kris.

[Kathryn]

The spiral leaf base one is Corypha utan I believe.

I think you are right. I was thinking it was Copernicia, but comparing the leaf bases with ones in the books, it looks like Corypha. I don't have a picture of the crown to verify.

[paulgila]

thanks again for posting these,i really enjoyed them.

[Kim]

Kathryn--  Thanks for the excellent photo tour.  I especially appreciate the commentary -- still learning a lot here.  Hope to get there someday myself.

[Paintball Guy]

Hey Kate,

                  Great pics Ive been there alot its a cool park very nice.

Travis Searle