Chamaedorea species ID

[Tracy]

Back in March 2010, I attended a So Cal Palm Society meeting at Jim Wright's house and he had some Chamaedorea seeds available for free.  I picked up some and spread them in a couple of spots in my garden and forgot about them.  Today I was at my Carlsbad rental, and saw this guy popping up.  It's either a volunteer or the only other thing I can think of are those Chamaedorea seeds... this is where they were spread rather unceremoniously years ago.  I looked at my photos from that tour and didn't see any notes on the seeds, so I'm going on this by memory at this point.  Any guesses?  I'm a bit perplexed by the different size leaflets on the two sides to this plant.  I also get "volunteer" A cunninghamiana seedlings all the time in that garden which must be extracted due to a couple of them in both my garden and in the neighbor's next door.  I think the birds must help in the distribution of those.  This however looks different than those clearly identified seedlings.

[Jeff Searle]

Do you remember getting Cham. radicalis seed?

[Tracy]

14 minutes ago, Jeff Searle said:

Do you remember getting Cham. radicalis seed?

I wish I could remember, but would be guessing if I said yes.  As I recall it was something Jim had popping up like weeds in his garden, so perhaps some who knew Jim and his garden, will be able to confirm for me.  I uprooted the startup cunninghamiana regularly when I lived there, but this looked a little different and so I left it, and that was probably 2 years ago.  I never really noticed or paid attention to it when I get over there until it jumped out at me today.  Would radicalis seed sprout up to 3 years after being sown like that?

[Kennybenjamin]

Looks glaucifolia to me?

[gyuseppe]

to me It seems chamaedorea radicalis
 

[Jeff Searle]

Cham. radicalis does seed pretty easy on it's own in the garden.  Also, it doesn't look quite right for C. glaucifolia to me.

[Tracy]

On 4/6/2016, 5:51:02, Jeff Searle said:

Cham. radicalis does seed pretty easy on it's own in the garden.  Also, it doesn't look quite right for C. glaucifolia to me.

 

On 4/6/2016, 4:36:08, gyuseppe said:

to me It seems chamaedorea radicalis
 

 

On 4/6/2016, 2:26:53, Kennybenjamin said:

Looks glaucifolia to me?

A year later, and it is quite apparent that what I thought was a "clumping" palm, was in fact two distinctly different palms.  I had a meeting with the landscaper who does the maintenance on the house, and noticed this pair, which are very different looking now.  I'm still not sure, but have to wonder if the broader leafed plant is a volunteer of one of my A cunninghamiana's in the back which produces a copious amount of seedling which have to be removed.  Any thoughts with the more mature versions of these plants?  The narrower leafed palm is plumose, while it's broader leafed partner shows no sign of being plumose.  I think I will let both continue to grow.  There is another narrower leafed plant is not a lone volunteer, as there is another about 20 feet away in the same planter.

[Mandrew968]

Hooperiana?

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, Mandrew968 said:

Hooperiana?

Now that you mention it, the leaves do resemble hooperiana, but I went out and looked at the trunks on my hooperiana cluster and they seem to be narrower in gauge.  My hooperiana was still in a pot on my front porch in Carlsbad, and didn't get into the ground until I moved to Leucadia.  I don't recall ever trying to spread seed, and definitely didn't try to pollinate it when in Carlsbad, so not sure how I would have gotten seed into that backyard where these grow.  The leaves are similar enough that going on them alone, I would be inclined to agree with you.  The fine plumose leafed stalk though bears no resemblance to either hooperiana or its companion trunk.  Louie donated the hooperiana I have to a So Cal Palm Society auction, so it has special meaning to me!

[Gonzer]

Looks like my glaucifolia.

 

[Mandrew968]

3 hours ago, Gonzer said:

Looks like my glaucifolia.

 

Ha! Just saw they are two different palms. The one on the left has a plumose leaf so it's either glaucifolia or plumosa. I saw both palms as one and only saw the right one's foliage. Yeah, glaucifolia or plumosa for sure.

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, Gonzer said:

Looks like my glaucifolia.

 

47 minutes ago, Mandrew968 said:

Yeah, glaucifolia or plumosa for sure.

That makes sense for the plumose fine leafed, but still struggling on it's wider leafed partner.  Very strange how they emerged side by side, like a multi-stemmed palm, only to be two distinctly different palms.

[gyuseppe]

is  whether they were 2 plants of 2 different species?
one glaucifolia and another radicalis or hooperiana

[Mandrew968]

Ah, so they are both volunteers? Ok, the plant on the left doesn't have the right leaflets for radicalis. The blond color on the crownshaft and wider leaflets makes me think pacaya palm... 

[tim_brissy_13]

The palm on the right looks like A cunninghamiana to me. I've had many volunteers pop up and the yellowish crownshaft colour is common when young.

[Mandrew968]

2 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

The palm on the right looks like A cunninghamiana to me. I've had many volunteers pop up and the yellowish crownshaft colour is common when young.

Yeah, that's what it is. 

[Tracy]

7 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

The palm on the right looks like A cunninghamiana to me. I've had many volunteers pop up and the yellowish crownshaft colour is common when young.

 

4 hours ago, Mandrew968 said:

Yeah, that's what it is. 

That would make the most sense, since I have a pair of A cunnninghamiana in the back which have put out seedlings around their base, that I have pulled out for years.  I'll have to pull that one out, as this is right behind a clumping Dypsis pembana which I don't want it to crowd out.  The plumose leafed C glaucifolia I will retain.  Thanks for solving the mystery before the cunninghamiana got much bigger!

[Hillizard]

Here's my clump of in-ground Chamaedorea glaucifolia which is blooming for the first time. Not sure if both sexes are present in this group. It definitely has the species characteristic of a waxy, white bloom covering the petiole and rachis. Mine gets only morning sun but this species does well in shade too.  With overhead protection it has handled frost quite well.

[Tracy]

18 minutes ago, Hillizard said:

Here's my clump of in-ground Chamaedorea glaucifolia which is blooming for the first time.

I'll have to look at mine again next time I'm over at the house and see if it's flowered yet.  With only one, I won't have to worry about it setting viable seed and overtaking anything.  Mine is getting plenty of shade now that my Bismarkia nobilis to it's west and a Rhopalostylis to the east are big enough to provide only occasional filtered sunlight.  I haven't really looked closely at it for a couple of years now since I removed the A cunninghamiana.  I have a bunch more  A cunninghamiana that have sprouted where they aren't wanted so need to be extracted. 

[Gonzer]

I cut all the inflo's off my glaucifolias because of the sheer number of seed. Kinda like the guy who grows zucchini, can't give away the excess.