Zombia x Coccothrinax Photo Shoot, Cape Coral, 1-18-21

[PalmatierMeg]

My Zombia x Coccothrinax hybrid is about 10 years old, 6' tall at the highest frond and 4' diameter. It has two major trunks with more on the way. Those trunks are covered with coarse woven fibers that curve outward in intervals to form horizontal spines. Genus Zombia is monotypical, i.e., contains only one species. Coccothrinax is not. I don't know which species is represented in the hybrid, but I guess the most common, barbadensis, is a likely candidate. Morphology of this palm's leaves in the cluster varies. Some are large, others much smaller. Some have silvery undersides, others do not. Some pinnae are thin, others thick. Kind of strange. This palm has taken down to the mid-30s with no damage. Very neat palm but not huggable.

Zombia x Coccothrinax, Cape Coral, FL 2021

Leaf Architecture

Pinnae on these leaves are shallowly cut into thirds and deeply cut to right and left. Note silvery obverse of top leaf.

Pinnae on these smaller leaves are wider and cut more uniformly. Undersides of leaves don't show as much silver

Trunk Architecture

Tallest Trunk

Fiber & spine detail

Primary & secondary trunks

Base of palm is a mass of fibers and spines

[climate change virginia]

looks spiky

[ahosey01]

13 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

My Zombia x Coccothrinax hybrid is about 10 years old, 6' tall at the highest frond and 4' diameter. It has two major trunks with more on the way. Those trunks are covered with coarse woven fibers that curve outward in intervals to form horizontal spines. Genus Zombia is monotypical, i.e., contains only one species. Coccothrinax is not. I don't know which species is represented in the hybrid, but I guess the most common, barbadensis, is a likely candidate. Morphology of this palm's leaves in the cluster varies. Some are large, others much smaller. Some have silvery undersides, others do not. Some pinnae are thin, others thick. Kind of strange. This palm has taken down to the mid-30s with no damage. Very neat palm but not huggable.

Zombia x Coccothrinax, Cape Coral, FL 2021

Leaf Architecture

Pinnae on these leaves are shallowly cut into thirds and deeply cut to right and left. Note silvery obverse of top leaf.

Pinnae on these smaller leaves are wider and cut more uniformly. Undersides of leaves don't show as much silver

Trunk Architecture

Tallest Trunk

Fiber & spine detail

Primary & secondary trunks

Base of palm is a mass of fibers and spines

What a palm!!

If our winters were just a touch warmer, I’d have one. The trunk character is stellar.

[Austinpalm]

17 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

My Zombia x Coccothrinax hybrid is about 10 years old, 6' tall at the highest frond and 4' diameter. It has two major trunks with more on the way. Those trunks are covered with coarse woven fibers that curve outward in intervals to form horizontal spines. Genus Zombia is monotypical, i.e., contains only one species. Coccothrinax is not. I don't know which species is represented in the hybrid, but I guess the most common, barbadensis, is a likely candidate. Morphology of this palm's leaves in the cluster varies. Some are large, others much smaller. Some have silvery undersides, others do not. Some pinnae are thin, others thick. Kind of strange. This palm has taken down to the mid-30s with no damage. Very neat palm but not huggable.

Zombia x Coccothrinax, Cape Coral, FL 2021

Leaf Architecture

Pinnae on these leaves are shallowly cut into thirds and deeply cut to right and left. Note silvery obverse of top leaf.

Pinnae on these smaller leaves are wider and cut more uniformly. Undersides of leaves don't show as much silver

Trunk Architecture

Tallest Trunk

Fiber & spine detail

Primary & secondary trunks

Base of palm is a mass of fibers and spines

Just curious Meg.  Why a hybrid instead of a pure Zombia?  Is it faster growing, more cold hardy, or more aesthetically pleasing in your eyes? Or did you purchase it thinking it was a pure Zombia and learned later it was not? I am interested in Zombia too, but have been told they are touchy in this area. Is the hybrid an easier grow?

[PalmatierMeg]

Both Coccothrinax and Zombia are hardy here. I bought it at a palm sale because it intrigued me and I was new to palms. I do have a couple pure Zombias planted later on my Garden Lot and they are very slow growing. This hybrid is planted in the front Caribbean Garden, which is mostly different species of Coccothrinax. It is slower than most Coccos but faster than Zombia. It has never flowered and I suspect but haven't been able to document that it is sterile like most intergeneric hybrids. If someone knowledgable will confirm or disprove my suspicion I would be most grateful.

This plant has been easy and troublefree. It does cluster and produces lots of leaves on skinny petioles.

[mnorell]

That's a cool-looking hybrid, Meg. Fascinating that it kept the fishnet-plus-spines wrapping. Have you thought that the unknown parent might be a Leucothrinax? Something about that leaf makes me think of it, maybe it is just the combo that gives me that feeling...Leucothrinax's somewhat ineffable qualities are impressed on me since I have lived for some years in a forest of that species (also Coccothrinax argentata) on Big Pine.

I just love Zombia. Bought a small one from Jeff Searle after Irma and put it in the ground in Big Pine and it has really grown nicely. Not that slow, really, and oh so pretty even as a small plant. Lord knows it is faster than our native Coccothrinax and Leucothrinax there. I think this is one that really loves the heat, similar to Pseudophoenix. In SW Florida out of the Gulf Stream's warm air you get cooler nights than on the SE coast/Keys and that could be a growth-rate issue that the F1 hybrid somehow circumvents? 

On the other hand, I am currently planning and planting our landscape in Rancho Mirage (California) in the Sonoran Desert and there is generally a 30-35F difference between dawn and the afternoon high (sometimes 40F or more). In summer that still gives us very warm nights LOL. I have several young Zombia (also some young Coccothrinax) that I am growing along, they are all well-documented as growing quite nicely in this climate as well, time will tell if they are slowwww...and I may be looking for such a hybrid myself!

[Merlyn]

Here's my Zombia x Coccothrinax hybrid, purchased from @NatureGirl around April 2019 as a 3 gallon.  She wasn't sure as to the Coccothrinax that it's crossed with.  It's definitely a bit slower than the other Coccothrinax in my yard, I have an Argentea (peeking in on the left) and a Barbadensis/Dussiana just a few feet to the left of the photo.  All took about the same cold damage at 28F with medium frost, more or less 1 or 2 fronds burnt in the center.  So at least for now it seems reasonably hardy. 

And here's the "trunk" with the weave:

[Stevetoad]

such a cool plant!

[aztropic]

Here's my 4 trunked Zombia...  Never protected,in the ground from a 1 gallon;seen 28F last year without any burn. Same slow growth rate as a coccothrinax.

 

aztropic 

Mesa,Arizona