Lytocaryum palms in their natural habitats

[Pal Meir]

Hello all Lytocaryum fans,

since a couple of years I am looking for photos of Lytocaryum palms showing them in their natural habitat. According to Noblick & Lorenzi (2010) there are 4 species of Lytocaryum: L. hoehnei, L. insigne, L. weddellianum, and L. itapebiense. The locations oft their known natural habitats in SE Brazil are from north to south as following:

L. itapebiense

Bahia: Itapebi

L. insigne

Espírito Santo: Santa Teresa; Santa Leopoldina; Vargem Alta

Rio de Janeiro: (Nova Friburgo;) Teresópolis

L. weddellianum

Rio de Janeiro: (Macaé Petrópolis; Magé

L. hoehnei

São Paulo: São Paulo; …

Paraná: Tunas do Paraná; …

I have found some good photos on GoogleEarth / Panoramio showing only 2 species of these palms in their habitat, e.g.:

L. weddellianum

Petrópolis at 910 m: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/68837292

Magé at 750 m: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/68354859

L. insigne

Santa Leopoldina at 510 m: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/111283264

If you know other links to photos of Lytocaryum or if you have your own photos of Lytocaryum in habitat all Lytocaryum fans would be very happy when you post them here at PalmTalk with informations concerning the locations.

[Pal Meir]

And here a link to an artistic (!) composition of the 3 links mentioned above:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/palmeir/15698101368/in/set-72157632033234692

[Pal Meir]

I forgot to add this link for L. itapebiense in its habitat Itapebi/Bahia, sorry:

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/12824-a-new-lytocaryum-species/?hl=itapebiensis

[Kai]

Very nice Pal!

Lytocaryum, the palm that triggered my palm obsession in the first place.

I have no pictures of them in habitat because sadly they are not native to the Netherlands.

I'd love to see some more pictures of them growing in the wild.

Also I'd like to refer to a palm edition of some years back which had some great pictures in a Lytocaryum article. I should look it up now...

Cheers!

[Pal Meir]

Also I'd like to refer to a palm edition of some years back which had some great pictures in a Lytocaryum article. I should look it up now...

Cheers!

Do you mean the article by Noblick & Lorenzi (2010) in Palms 54(1)? It it publicly available as pdf:

http://www.palms.org/palmsjournal/2010/v54n1p5_17.pdf

[Alberto]

Of you are kidding when you say this are the best pictures ever of Lytocaryum in habitat :-)

At the Biennial of the IPS in Rio de Janeiro in 2010, we saw lots of L. weddelianum in habitat

[Pal Meir]

Of you are kidding when you say this are the best pictures ever of Lytocaryum in habitat :-)

At the Biennial of the IPS in Rio de Janeiro in 2010, we saw lots of L. weddelianum in habitat

Hi Alberto, thanks for your remarks.

(1) I didn't say that these are the best photos, but I wrote: "I have found some good photos on GoogleEarth / Panoramio showing only 2 species of these palms in their habitat". I think these photos are very useful because they do not show only the palm trees, but also the whole environment. And they document also the locations of these palms very precisely. Therefore I could see e.g. that L. insigne palms are found also at altitudes about 500 m as many photos taken near Véu de Noiva / ES show (and not only between 1000-1800 m as claimed in the literature). And L. weddellianum also at altitudes about 900 m (what is over "800 m" of the literature).

(2) You wrote that you saw lots of L. weddellianum in habitat. All the Lytocaryum friends in the world who couldn't participate in that biennial or don’t live in RJ would be very happy if you could add a link to photos taken there by you or other persons. And if you could add also informations concerning the environment and altitude of these habitats it would be very useful for more reliable and newer data concerning these palms. Very many data in newer articles rely only on literature of the 19th century or are only citations which were not always verified.

So I and also other Lytocaryum fans (who don't live in the vicinity of L. in BA, ES, RJ, SP, or PR) are waiting for (links to) many other or even better photos of theses palms showing them and their natural habitat.

Kind greetings from Germany (far away from the natural habitats of Lytocaryum)!

[Pal Meir]

Of you are kidding when you say this are the best pictures ever of Lytocaryum in habitat :-)

At the Biennial of the IPS in Rio de Janeiro in 2010, we saw lots of L. weddelianum in habitat

Oh, now I do understand your remarks above. You are referring to my comment on the photo taken by M. Britto in 2012 in Petrópolis:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/68837292

I wrote: "The best photo of the natural habitat of Lytocaryum weddellianum (palmeirinha-de-petrópolis) I have ever seen! There is nothing comparable even in the palm literature."

Yes, indeed, I have still this opinion. Do you know a better photo showing this palm together with typical parts of its natural habitat? At least I (that's me) haven’t seen any. And not in the literature, too. I am waiting for better photos!

And as I see you are living in the south of PR, isn't the northern part one habitat of L. hoehnei …?

[Alicehunter2000]

It would be interesting to see habitat pictures for me as well. Pal, do you keep Lytocaryum as a permanent inside plant?

[Pal Meir]

It would be interesting to see habitat pictures for me as well. Pal, do you keep Lytocaryum as a permanent inside plant?

Yes, I do. But because of my several longer absent times from home I had problems with all my palms again and again, especially with Lytocaryum weddellianum. To protect these palms against dying by drying out or overwatering I published a little booklet (115 pp; cf. also Palms 57(3), p. 108) in 2012 entitled as Cocos Weddelliana which won’t dry out. It contains also an excursus on L. insigne, because this species was confused with L. weddellianum from 1995 to 2010. (This was not the only confusion caused by palm botanists.)

Since that time I try to document my experience with growth of potted Lytocaryum palms at my Flickr website:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/palmeir/sets/72157632033234692/

Unfortunately I have at present only L. weddellianum (germinated 2013-04) and L. insigne (germinated 2014-02/03). Though the L. weddellianum palms are only 2 years young two of them are still over 80 cm high and make very attractive potted palms decorating my living room. (Since 2008 I don’t have a greenhouse any more.) I think that L. weddellianum ist still the for living rooms, but L. insigne and L. hoehnei will make better palms for terraces (or gardens, but not in Germany).

Even in case of potted palms I think it is most useful (and also interesting) to know where and under what conditions these palms thrive in their natural habitats. So I do hope that we can get more photos not only of the trees (as mostly in the palm literature), but also of the environment of these trees with more exact informations concerning the localities.

[Pal Meir]

Further links to natural habitats of Lytocaryum palms I found in the past at Google Earth:

L. weddellianum hidden at Rio Inhomirim in Serra da Estrela / Petrópolis, RJ (2010-09-08) (c. 625 m): http://www.panoramio.com/photo/40495437

L. weddellianum lonsome baby in Serra da Estrela / Magé, RJ (2012-03-12) (c. 750 m): http://www.panoramio.com/photo/68355111

L. insigne on steep hillside near waterfall Véu do Noiva / Santa Leopoldina, ES (2012-05-01) (c. 500 m): http://www.panoramio.com/photo/71283484

@Alberto

Hello, concerning the location of your hometown I was wrong: As I see you are living in Carambeí, only c. 100 km west from Tunas do Paraná, one of the documented habitats of L. hoehnei. Are these palms still existing there? And do you have photos of their habitat? We would be very happy if you could add photos and/or informations!

Greetings from Germany!

PS

I found a habitat of Lytocaryum palms also in Germany in the city of Gladbeck, but it seens not to be of natural origin …

[Pal Meir]

As I was informed by Mauro Peixoto of Brazilplants the photo of L. hoehnei posted at his home page was taken in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, one of the threatened habitats of this most endangered palm:

http://www.brazilplants.com/palmae/lytocaryum-hoehnei.html

The altitude may be about 900-950 m.

[Pal Meir]

On April 30 I got the kind permission by Mauro Peixoto of Brazilplants to post a very nice photo of Lytocaryum hoehnei at Flickr group »Lytocaryum Palms«, which shows a fine specimen of this species in its natural habitat in Mogi das Cruzes / São Paulo state (probably at an altidude between 700 and 900 m?):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/palmeir/17324346792/in/pool-2451781@N20

[DoomsDave]

Guten Tag, mein Herr Meir . . .

Great pictures

[Pal Meir]

We can see now so many excellent photos of palms in their habitat in Madagascar on PT , but I am missing any pics of the four Lytocaryum spp. (weddellianum / insigne / hoehnei / itapebiense) in their natural habitats in Brazil (RJ, ES, SP, PR, BA) …

PIX WANTED!

[Pal Meir]

I am looking for photos like these,  taken by M. Britto  in 2012 and published on Panoramio, which show not only the palms but also their environment: