Trachycarpus ID Help!

[tim_brissy_13]

Hi all,

I’m hoping someone can help with the ID of this Trachycarpus. It was amongst a group of T fortunei at a non palm specialist nursery but clearly different. Compared to the others, it is much more squat and thick in stature, has thick leathery leaflets, wider leaflets and a glaceous white/blue underside of leaflets which is from a wax that can be wiped off. Petioles are rough but not clearly armed. The leaflets also seem to be arranged split in pairs which matches T geminisectus, so I bought it but surely to get a geminisectus from a group of fortunei is too good to be true. Any ideas? I haven’t seen young T latisectus but from what I’ve read that could also fit? Or is it just an extreme variation of fortunei?

[PalmatierMeg]

Sorry, I have no idea but it's very pretty. Glad you bought it.

[Stevetoad]

i think its just a variation. i wish i had photos but i bought one that looked just like that thinking it would grow up to have a unique form. unfortunately it grew up to be a normal form. i think mine was grown in full hot sun and that made it compact. you never know until you plant it though. i hope yours keeps its compact look. 

[tim_brissy_13]

6 hours ago, Stevetoad said:

i think its just a variation. i wish i had photos but i bought one that looked just like that thinking it would grow up to have a unique form. unfortunately it grew up to be a normal form. i think mine was grown in full hot sun and that made it compact. you never know until you plant it though. i hope yours keeps its compact look. 

Yeah I have heard that T fortunei can have a waxy coating on the undersides so I definitely think it’s a possibility that it is a variation. But it does seem unusual how colourful it is and the thing that the photos can’t represent is how thick and leathery the leaves are. I’ll see how it grows and I’ll know soon; fortunei grows quickly and robustly here so I’d expect flowers in a few years if it’s fortunei. 

[Chester B]

I have two smaller ones that had fronds just like yours.  I did not notice any white on the undersides but never really looked.  As each new frond comes out they become more segmented with time.

I have 26 medium to large size Trachys and it amazes me the difference between them all.  The majority of them look quite similar but I have three "non-standard" types that occur.  One is very dark with stiff fronds that might have some waggie in it, another has enormous fronds and I have a few that throw 360 fronds.  Keeps things interesting when you're limited to how many species you can grow.