Cyrtostachys Species "Fort Lauderdale"

[palmsOrl]

I was reviewing some of the information on Palmpedia for Cyrtostachys and noticed that there were separate pages for five of the seven currently recognized species of Cyrtostachys, but not for Cyrtostachys excelsa or Cyrtostachys barbata.  I assume these are not included due to a lack of information currently available on these rare species.

I also noticed that there is a Palmpedia page for an individual Cyrtostachys specimen located in Fort Lauderdale known as Cyrtostachys sp. "Fort Lauderdale".  I have attached a couple photos of this specimen from Palmpedia.

Does anyone know anything about this specimen, its history or about which species of Cyrtostachys it could be?  Looking at photos of the palm, it is clearly a Cyrtostachys of some sort.  Also, it is definitely NOT Cyrtostachys renda, so it is not a brown crownshaft form of Cyrtostachys renda (I have heard that a brown crownshaft form of C. renda does exist in South Florida).  

Therefore, based on the limited information I already have, I assume Cyrtostachys sp. "Fort Lauderdale" is either a hybrid of C. renda and another Cyrtostachys species, or a crownshaft color variant of one of the other known Cyrtostachys species.  Two less likely possibilities are that "Fort Lauderdale" is an as of yet unidentified/unnamed Cyrtostachys species that somehow made its way into a Florida collection or that it is a hybrid of two Cyrtostachys species other than C. renda.

[bubba]

How do you get your hands on this palm? Does it even have a name? Does Mr. Searles sell this palm?

[palmsOrl]

I would also jump at the chance for a seedling or seed, whichever Cyrtostachys species or hybrid it is.

I wouldn't be surprised if what is referred to as the alleged brown crownshaft form of Cyrtostachys renda is actually this palm (this palm, "Fort Lauderdale" is clearly not really just a color variant of C. renda, as it is morphologically quite distinct from C. renda).  It surely is a Cyrtostachys of some sort though.

[palmsOrl]

I discovered another Palmtalk thread from 2016 discussing this palm specimen.

One of the possobilities suggested in the above thread is that Cyrtostachys sp. "Fort Lauderdale" could actually be Wallaceodoxa raja-ampat.  See the photos of this species below.  I could certainly get on board with this identification based on the leaflets, crown, crownshaft and inflorescence of the pictured Wallaceodoxa.

Further, I wouldn't be surprised if the genus Wallaceodoxa is eventually merged in Cyrtostachys, but that is also just a guess.

 

[palmsOrl]

Who owns the Cyrtostachys sp. "Fort Lauderdale" specimen and is he/she a Palmtalk member?  Maybe we could convince the owner to sell some seed of this amazing palm.

[palmsOrl]

My vote at this point is Rhopaloblaste, probably R. ceramica.