Unusual Rhapidophyllum hystrix

[Fusca]

I saw this needle palm clump yesterday at the San Antonio Botanical Garden.  Anyone see something unusual?

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Fusca

[teddytn]

I thought these 2 to be very unusual. The trunk was 4 feet tall and had to be 10 feet overall. Varigated needle “moonshine”

[LouisvillePalmer]

On 11/14/2021 at 6:46 PM, teddytn said:

I thought these 2 to be very unusual. The trunk was 4 feet tall and had to be 10 feet overall. Varigated needle “moonshine”

 

Where was that 4' tall trunked needle?

[teddytn]

1 hour ago, LouisvillePalmer said:

 

Where was that 4' tall trunked needle?

At Plant Delights nursery in Raleigh, NC

[Bigfish]

On 9/20/2021 at 7:46 PM, Fusca said:

I saw this needle palm clump yesterday at the San Antonio Botanical Garden.  Anyone see something unusual?

 

It’s hard to tell from my phone, but are a couple of the leaves variegated?

[Fusca]

2 minutes ago, Bigfish said:

It’s hard to tell from my phone, but are a couple of the leaves variegated?

You're close.  Actually there are two different leaves from two different palms.  I didn't realize that the lighting of the original pic made it so hard to see the volunteer seedling growing in the clump.  I took another photo today from another angle.

 

[tjwalters]

On 11/28/2021 at 5:11 PM, Fusca said:

You're close.  Actually there are two different leaves from two different palms.  I didn't realize that the lighting of the original pic made it so hard to see the volunteer seedling growing in the clump.  I took another photo today from another angle.

 

Are you thinking this is a needle palm?  This looks like Livistona chinensis or something similar.  Note the costapalmate leaf and armored petiole.

[Fusca]

24 minutes ago, tjwalters said:

Are you thinking this is a needle palm?  This looks like Livistona chinensis or something similar.  Note the costapalmate leaf and armored petiole.

That was my whole point.  The Livistona chinensis volunteer is growing within the clump of the suckering needle palm.  You can see the Livistona to the right with about 6 leaves and the rest of the clump is the needle with about 25 leaves that are only half the size of the Livistona's leaves.