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Here is a new photo of my solitary Medemia argun. To save the presbyopes from having to use their reading glasses, I have included a photo of my label ! :

On the true B. 'clara' s I've seen the petioles have none of the fuzzy, brown tomentum that is on the armatas. Also the leaflets are longer, thinner, and segmented deeper into the leaf. The petiole teeth also seem reduced and further spaced apart which along with the humidity tolerance suggests the brandegeei influence. I think some nurseries will label any extra-blue, droopy segmented, long-petioled B. armata as B. clara without attention to the details which define a true 'clara' or to the purity of their seed source. The native population of clara in Mexico has consistent traits such as the lack of tomentum. If 'clara' is a natural hybrid of armata and brandegeei as theorized then it obviously has the propensity for hybridizing. Any SoCal 'clara' seed harvested in the company of armata could be hybridized, diluting the true clara traits. Here's the fuzz-free petiole detail from a photo on palmpedia.net: and petiole detail on armata with the tomentum particularly visible between the teeth. The difference is more pronounced as plants age. here is B. brandegeei with almost no tomentum or teeth:

Well, it's very simple, you're meant to grow a bismarck.

I have just found an old photo of this taxon when just two years old - so just to see if I can still insert a photo into a message lets try again I think I can do it now - corr muy complicado

Hi Al in Kona I'm in Cojedes, central Venezuela at around 600 feet elevation. I have had little success in inserting photos into messages. I could not believe that I have to export my photos to Photobucket before they can be inserted into messages - in g-mail with Picasa it is so simple. This seems to be really complicated. So lets try it - here is a photo of my Medemia argun at just 5 years I think it happened!