Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

PalmTalk

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

WELCOME GUEST

It looks as if you are viewing PalmTalk as an unregistered Guest.

Please consider registering so as to take better advantage of our vast knowledge base and friendly community.  By registering you will gain access to many features - among them are our powerful Search feature, the ability to Private Message other Users, and be able to post and/or answer questions from all over the world. It is completely free, no “catches,” and you will have complete control over how you wish to use this site.

PalmTalk is sponsored by the International Palm Society. - an organization dedicated to learning everything about and enjoying palm trees (and their companion plants) while conserving endangered palm species and habitat worldwide. Please take the time to know us all better and register.

guest Renda04.jpg

Looking for info on Attalea colenda

Featured Replies

So I was out looking at palm porn (my Wifes words not mine)

and came across RPS having these seeds for sale. WOW what a beauty!

Anyone ever seen one, have any pictures of it? any info at all would be great as im seriously considering starting some of these so my children have some wildly different palms, of course something tells me from its description being "coastal ecuador" that it will have absolutely 0 cold hardiness. I think id still like to try it but sheesh, youd have thought this palm had never been seen as google has never heard of it :)

The rps pic for reference!

AttCol.jpg

Allen

Galveston Island Tx

9a/9b

8' Elevation

Sandy Soil

Jan Avgs 50/62

Jul Avgs 80/89

Average Annual Rainfall 43.5"

  • Author

Yikes, no ones ever seen this one or even heard of it, thats a bummer!

Allen

Galveston Island Tx

9a/9b

8' Elevation

Sandy Soil

Jan Avgs 50/62

Jul Avgs 80/89

Average Annual Rainfall 43.5"

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Author

has anyone ever even seen this palm? :)

Allen

Galveston Island Tx

9a/9b

8' Elevation

Sandy Soil

Jan Avgs 50/62

Jul Avgs 80/89

Average Annual Rainfall 43.5"

has anyone ever even seen this palm? :)

no mate sorry, but it looks dandy.

Happy Gardening

Cheers,

Wal

Queensland, Australia.

Allen,

Not much info out there on this palm. All I know is that it is one of the largest in the genus (to about 100FT counting leaves 120ft).

I too was interested and I nearly bought them but I would imagine that the young plants have HUGE leaves and I'm currently running out of space in my yard. It does survive in subtropical areas...so it will have some cold hardiness. It would also have some drought tolerance as they grow in both humid and dry conditions.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/l30237m8v52u53u4/

See below:

Abstract Attalea colenda is a monoecious palm found in pastures in coastal Ecuador. In dry regions, it is a valuable source of oil in self-sufficiency farming or in combination with cattle in pastures. The palm was studied over a gradient of dry to humid environments during two fruiting seasons. Palm growth, production of leaves, inflorescences, and infructescences, number of fruits per infructescence, and seed weight of five populations were evaluated. The individual of average size is 15 m tall, which corresponds to approximately 30–40 years of age. No difference in fruit production was recorded between wet and dry regions of coastal Ecuador. The average production of one hectare of pasture, with 50 palms, was 0.9 t of oil per year. One population that was part of an agroforestry system produced 50% more fruits than the average of all populations in pasture.

Cheers,

Mike

Michael Ferreira

Bermuda-Humid(77% ave), Subtropical Zone 11, no frost

Warm Season: (May-November): Max/Min 81F/73F

Cool Season: (Dec-Apr): Max/Min 70F/62F

Record High: 94F

Record Low: 43F

Rain: 55 inches per year with no dry/wet season

Another great site with information.

http://www.palmbase.org/FMPro?-DB=SciNames...D=178&-Find

Check out the pic...

post-751-1214142682_thumb.jpg

Michael Ferreira

Bermuda-Humid(77% ave), Subtropical Zone 11, no frost

Warm Season: (May-November): Max/Min 81F/73F

Cool Season: (Dec-Apr): Max/Min 70F/62F

Record High: 94F

Record Low: 43F

Rain: 55 inches per year with no dry/wet season

I was really taken with the description of this palm, and hearing that it grows on dry coastal plains, I couldn't resist buying 100 of these seeds from RPS.

  • Author

Wow, its done, I think im in for 100 as well!

Allen

Galveston Island Tx

9a/9b

8' Elevation

Sandy Soil

Jan Avgs 50/62

Jul Avgs 80/89

Average Annual Rainfall 43.5"

Wow, its done, I think im in for 100 as well!

Allen,

I'll start a topic when mine germinate, with some photos, naturally. The seeds are about the size of Carpoxylon macrospermum. Best of luck with yours, when you get them.

  • Author

Dry coastal plain in ecuador obviously means warm-hot. somehow I suspect this is going to be a warm natured palm but im going to give it a try.

John,

Looking forward to the pics!

Allen

Galveston Island Tx

9a/9b

8' Elevation

Sandy Soil

Jan Avgs 50/62

Jul Avgs 80/89

Average Annual Rainfall 43.5"

  • 11 months later...

Any additional info or updates? I just received my 10 Attalea colenda seeds from my most recent inseedious relapse and I'm super thrilled to start the journey. They look like cute little coconuts. Whoever germinated them please post any progress and lessons learned, please.

Frank

 

Zone 9b pine flatlands

humid/hot summers; dry/cool winters

with yearly freezes

  • 1 month later...

6 germinated out of 10 ^_^

Germination took just a few hours after exposing the embryo with the aid of a pin head.

Even before seeing a first leaf I had to repot 4 of them. They send a jolly old good sinker towards the drainage holes (even the larger pots!). Still waiting for the first leaf to emerge.......

Frank

 

Zone 9b pine flatlands

humid/hot summers; dry/cool winters

with yearly freezes

i ordered 100 about three months ago. Toby sent about 120, I tried to germinate them the baggie method. So far I have about 75 or more that have already germinated. One is starting to put out top growth already. I recommend that you get them quickly, as they appear to be really fresh seed.

Jody

Chilliwack British Columbia

Zone 8/9 until 3 years ago. Now Zone 6b.

Don't even get me started.

6 germinated out of 10 ^_^

Germination took just a few hours after exposing the embryo with the aid of a pin head.

Even before seeing a first leaf I had to repot 4 of them. They send a jolly old good sinker towards the drainage holes (even the larger pots!). Still waiting for the first leaf to emerge.......

Hello Neighbor!

Please keep us updated w/ the progress of your seedlings. Usually any palm from Ecuador dies w/ our hummidity, but

let's hope this one thrives here!

Orlando, Florida

zone 9b

The Pollen Poacher!!

GO DOLPHINS!!

GO GATORS!!!

 

Palms, Sex, Money and horsepower,,,, you may have more than you can handle,,

but too much is never enough!!

I got my seeds from rps some weeks ago. 3 out of 10 germinated in the enveloppe and 3 more a few days later. So germinating these seeds won't be the problelm I guess...

Actually the seeds look more like large Syagrus seeds then Attalea seeds to me, but I guess that's my mistake then...

Cheers!

www.facebook.com/#!/Totallycoconuts

Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

  • 5 weeks later...

Update!

post-47-1251244339_thumb.jpg

Frank

 

Zone 9b pine flatlands

humid/hot summers; dry/cool winters

with yearly freezes

All I can say is this is going to be a really cool, tropical looking Attalea. My instinct from looking at the seed leaves me to that conclusion. :)

Christian Faulkner

Venice, Florida - South Sarasota County.

www.faulknerspalms.com

 

Μολὼν λάβε

  • 3 years later...

updates - what happened ???????

Nice bump

They are going to be MONSTERS, all I can say. One is in the ground, the rest are trying to go pinnate.

Frank

 

Zone 9b pine flatlands

humid/hot summers; dry/cool winters

with yearly freezes

We have a couple in the ground here. Slow growers but nuce dark green foliage. It is still undivided juvenile leaves, about 2ft tall. After the 2010-11 winter, they suffered some minor burn. They seem slightly less hardy than the "hardier" Attalea like A. cohune and A. phalerata.

Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

  • 1 year later...

mine are germinating in harsh west sydney, have had my eye on this bloody beauty for a long time., now i got the guts to grow it, just cant pick what spot to put it in, ile wait n see what its growth habit wil be like. yeehaa. i think this is one of the most Palmiest palmtrees ever, with its lyrebird tail feather leaf, i dont know if this is the ultimate or the coconut for me now. not that i have any more room, but couldnt help it, im palmed-out !!!

I bought 100 seeds off Toby 2 years ago and had zero sprouted. very frustrating to say the least. I did some in bags, some in community post with bottom heat, some with out bottom heat, ETC I think the seed I got could have been bad??? I plan on trying again some day soon.

Carlsbad, California Zone 10 B on the hill (402 ft. elevation)

Sunset zone 24

Any pics of your juvenile 2ft tall attalea colenda They are a remarkable looking palm cheers

I've got 2- small plants in 3-gal. size containers and now after seeing photos of A. colenda and seeing how beautiful it is I'm gonna try find a nice spot in the garden and get it planted soon.

Hawaii Island (Big Island), leeward coast, 19 degrees N. latitude, south Kona mauka at approx. 380m (1,250 ft.) and about 1.6 km (1-mile) upslope from ocean.

 

No record of a hurricane passing over this island (yet!).  

Summer maximum rainfall - variable averaging 900-1150mm (35-45") - Perfect drainage on black volcanic rocky soil.  

Nice sunsets!

That's it, I'm moving to Hawaii!!

Carlsbad, California Zone 10 B on the hill (402 ft. elevation)

Sunset zone 24

  • 11 months later...

Here's 5.5 years of growth from mine. It seems somewhat slow, but I'm not sure what to expect from an Attalea. (In the first picture it's the 2 leaf palm in the large pot on the bottom shelf).

 

IMG_0085.jpg

 

IMG_4412.jpg

 

 

Keith 

Tampa, Florida (9b/10a) and Freiburg, Germany (8a).

Yours is looking nice Keith. Attalea's can be kind of slow to start in my experience but once they get up to around the size yours is they aren't too bad. How long has yours been in the ground? My experience is that once planted they usually spend a year or two not doing a whole lot above ground, although my guess is that they're developing serious root systems, and then by the second year they really explode with each new leaf being much bigger than the last.

Here's mine which was planted just about two years ago from about the size yours is now. This summer it started pushing some bigger leaves finally, the biggest is right around 8ft long. The area's a little crowded so the pictures aren't the greatest by the way.

P1020433.thumb.JPG.ca9500a28b4cd8b5184c2P1020429.thumb.JPG.4005dce519f3c5ef4f296P1020430.thumb.JPG.510b6f9e5be256aa5d142

Thanks for the tips! I planted mine at the beginning of spring this year, so it's right at the end of it's first growing season in the ground. Yours looks great! It's definitely starting to get the Attalea look to it. 

Keith 

Tampa, Florida (9b/10a) and Freiburg, Germany (8a).

  • 5 years later...
On 11/16/2014 at 7:58 PM, Al in Kona said:

I've got 2- small plants in 3-gal. size containers and now after seeing photos of A. colenda and seeing how beautiful it is I'm gonna try find a nice spot in the garden and get it planted soon.

Just ran across this...  how cool.

 

anyone have any updates on the colendas?  Zeeth, mine looks like yours did in that last pic, how’s it doin now?

  • 3 years later...
On 7/16/2021 at 1:59 AM, www.dadluvsu.com said:

Just ran across this...  how cool.

 

anyone have any updates on the colendas?  Zeeth, mine looks like yours did in that last pic, how’s it doin now?

Here’s how it looks today

IMG_0247.jpeg

Keith 

Tampa, Florida (9b/10a) and Freiburg, Germany (8a).

Create an account or sign in to comment

Account

Navigation

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.