Dypsis Ovobontsira plugging along

[TomJ]

Walking around the garden and taking in all the burned and cold damaged leaves I stumbled into......

[PalmatierMeg]

Very nice and spring-y. I couldn't get this species past small seedling stage.

[BS Man about Palms]

This seems a temperamental species. Well done on getting it to that size Tom!

[Palm Tree Jim]

6 hours ago, BS Man about Palms said:

This seems a temperamental species. Well done on getting it to that size Tom!

Been a challenge to grow for me.

[Josh-O]

On 3/24/2019 at 1:01 PM, TomJ said:

Walking around the garden and taking in all the burned and cold damaged leaves I stumbled into......

Is that the Aff. Tokoravina to the right of the Ovo Tom?

[TomJ]

10 hours ago, Josh-O said:

Is that the Aff. Tokoravina to the right of the Ovo Tom?

No that's the Robusta

[akamu]

Looking  good what sun exposure is it getting and How is your soil? So,far i have had no luck with  this palm 2 down 1 to go thanks for your input 

[John hovancsek]

Right now this is one of my favorite dypsis in the garden. It is somewhat of a fast grower for me and Is starting to get some color

[TomJ]

9 hours ago, akamu said:

Looking  good what sun exposure is it getting and How is your soil? So,far i have had no luck with  this palm 2 down 1 to go thanks for your input 

All day filtered sun exposure. 

Lots of water in mostly clay soil. 

There is a 4 foot drop off downhill of it, so for clay it drains well.

One of the few palms that was pushing a spear (slowly) throughout a very cold/cool Winter.

 

[joe_OC]

Great job, Tom!  

How long have you had it in the ground?  

What sort of growth rate are you seeing from it?  

I have several variants of this palm, so I am keen on learning what you are doing.

 

[akamu]

Thanks for your input. I think i probably had it in too much sun exposure for a juvenile palm 1/4 day  8 miles inland cheers

[Josh-O]

On 3/26/2019 at 8:27 AM, TomJ said:

No that's the Robusta

Ahhh

[Hilo Jason]

Very nice Tom. Those are a tough grow in Southern California. At least they always were for me in Fallbrook. While they didn’t die (at least not all of them) they never really grew much. Yours looks great! 

[TomJ]

14 hours ago, akamu said:

Thanks for your input. I think i probably had it in too much sun exposure for a juvenile palm 1/4 day  8 miles inland cheers

Maybe so,  I'm 7 miles inland.

[TomJ]

Today

[joe_OC]

I have found my Ovobontsiras want full sun in Huntington Beach.  Been a strong grower for me.

[palmtodd]

I have one growing better than expected.  In about 3/4 day Full Sun and looking like its very happy.  I haven't even fertilized and have very sandy soil. 
Starting to get some great color.  Is about 7.5 ft now with the newest leaf. 

[Hilo Jason]

These are great looking palms and they don't take up much space in the garden.  

I believe this palm in the photo below is most likely what we are all growing as "Ovobontsira".  I took this at Floribunda.  Not sure any of these are the real Ovobontisra based on the description and habitat photos on Palmpedia (https://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Dypsis_ovobontsira) but this is Dypsis so who knows!  

Also, here's a photo from a year or so ago from Bill Austin's garden.  I think this is also the same as the Floribunda palm above and seems to have similar traits to what you guys have posted above and what I am growing in my garden as well.  

[TomJ]

On 2/5/2020 at 7:37 PM, joe_OC said:

I have found my Ovobontsiras want full sun in Huntington Beach.  Been a strong grower for me.

It has been in the groung +/- four years from a 5gl. 

Probably should have put it in more sun, I had no idea when I planted it out.

I think the shade stretches it out a bit and makes the colors pop a little more.

[John hovancsek]

Here is my palm, starting to speed up

[ellidro]

A new reddish leaf on mine today. My daughter for scale.

[ellidro]

[ellidro]

[joe_OC]

5 minutes ago, ellidro said:

A new reddish leaf on mine today. My daughter for scale.

Nick-How much sun is your’s getting?  You climate is pretty similar to mine so I am curious what your experience has been.

[ellidro]

It gets about half day sun . I think it wouldn't mind at all full sun though.

 

 

[TomJ]

20 hours ago, ellidro said:

It gets about half day sun . I think it wouldn't mind at all full sun though.

 

 

Looks great.

Nice D. Albo.. behind as well. 

Mine could probably use more sun, but I'm not as coastal as you two.

[Tracy]

My infant plant always seems to have beat up leaflets.  Nice color showing as a new leaf is pushing, and thank goodness my Ficus dammaropsis finally decided to take a turn.  The F dammaropsis leaves were smothering this little guy earlier this winter and spring.

[realarch]

Finally looking good enough for a photo. Such an elegant palm at this stage, kinda has a Ravenea looking habit.

Tim

[TomJ]

Here it is today opening a new one.

Spear is oner 8' tall and the colors are amazing for a week or so.

[John hovancsek]

Here is an update on the one I have and I also have a smaller one that is just starting to do its thing. Sorry, my garden is in shambles 

[mike in kurtistown]

I bought ovobontsira seeds from RPS. Most of the seedlings perished in the shadehouse from some pathogen, but the smallest one somehow survived. A couple years later, It was growing rapidly and needed planting out, so I did so. This is it today (ignore the tall grass, and 8 x 8 x 16 inch bocks provide scale):

Then I had a seedling w/o a tag that I couldn't identify. It was developing as a tall palm with long leaves with long regularly-arranged leaflets, so I theorized that it was one of my "orange crush" seedlings and planted it with them. Wrong! It has developed into a larger version of the plant above:

One of the distinctive features of this species is the brown color of the new spear:

I purchased more "ovobontsira" seeds from RPS, but they turned out to be ampasandavae, a completely different palm.

Interestingly, ovobontsira is said to be extremely rare in habitat, with less than 10 trees in a very limited area. Also, I have read somewhere that the true ovobontsira has never had seeds collected from them, suggesting that the palms shown above and by other posters might be an undescribed species. Has anyone else come across a written record that states that opinion?

 

[John Dransfield]

Mike alerted me to this thread. Dypsis ovobontsira with certainty is known from a very small population inland from Antanambe in eastern Madagascar. There is a good photo of it in PALMS 61(2): 64 (2017) taken by Dr. Mijoro Rakotoarinivo at the type locality. We have realised that Dypsis leucomalla described from cultivated material from Floribunda is in fact very closely related, but that the two can be immediately distinguished by the dense red fur on the sheaths of ovobontsira whereas leucomalla has white wool. For my part I find it very difficult, if not impossible, to identify juvenile palms growing outside their natural habitat so I cannot adjudicate the identity of the palms in this thread. As with many palms coming out of Madagascar, species identified from local names given by seed collectors can be unreliable - you may have the real thing, or maybe not. Perhaps one day in the future we can clinch identifications by simple molecular techniques but we are a long way off that!

[mike in kurtistown]

I appreciate the help provided by Dr. Dransfield. I have dug out the 2017 photo taken in habitat by Joro:

 

 

I am not convinced by this photo that the tree palms that we have been considering are the same as illustrated in this photo.  In particular the brown on the leaf sheaths is missing from the larger cultivated palms.  Of course, cultivation conditions might make a difference in appearance. And even the trunking Floribunda tree doesn't show an inflorescence that could facilitate comparison.

[knell]

Considering Mijoro’s photo, the color, and the interfoliar vs infrafoliar inflorescences, i am no botanist but i am strongly leaning away from calling it the “real” ovobontsira, despite that being the name it came in as

the imminent flowers / fruit / seed from the plants in this thread will help get it keyed out as best as possible, so that should be interesting