A short glimpse of the Paranà state (Brasil)

[EuroPalm]

Good morning.

A month ago I had the chance to visit, during three weeks, some of my cousins established in the southern part of Brasil, mainly in the state of Paranà.

Three weeks is a very short time to elaborate a complete description of palms and other plants grown there. Indeed there is a kind of interest to give an idea of the first sight a visitor can have of certain area. After speed dating, here is speed sighting...

I apologize with our brasilian members to give a very partial description of their beautiful country and great people they know much better than me.

In chronological order :

Rio Negro : it is a small city on the river of the same name separating the state of Paranà from the state of Santa Catarina. The temperature can be as low as 0 °C in winter (32 F). We can see :

- Syagrus romanzoffianum (huge quantities in the wild and in parks and gardens)

- Many unidentified Butia with very thick trunks.

- One palm with needles on the trunk (Acronomia) on the pincipal square of Rio Negro.

- Nice Livistona chinensis in sizes I have never seen in Europe. Seems this palm has been introduced a long time ago in Paranà.

- Chaxi ("chachi") a nice tree fern with two meters trunks.

- Many Yucca elephantipes with the lower trunk painted in white.

- A lot of tillandsias and bromeliads everywhere.

- The marvellous three colored Tibouchina mutabilis (manacà do Serra) which deserves to be more cultivated in other parts of the world.

Curitiba : the capital of the state. Climate milder than Rio Negro.

- Syagrus romanzoffianum (huge quantities in the wild and in parks and gardens)

- Livistona chinensis

- Dypsis lutescens.

- Some Euterpe edulis but very few.

- Some Dypsis triangularis

- Some Bismarkias.

- Great number of Archontophoenix alexandrae

Matinhos : a nice city on the littoral. Climate milder.

- Cocos nucifera (imported from Bahia)

- Livistona chinensis.

- Dypsis lutescens in huge quantities.

- Euterpe edulis (a lot)

- Syagrus romanzoffianum.

- Very strangely : no mango tree. Why ? I could not get any explanation about this.

- Great number of Archontophoenix alexandrae

- Tibouchina mutabilis (manacà do Serra)

Antonina, Morettes :

- Huge quantities of Euterpe edulis : these cities are the heartland of palmheart production in Paranà.

- Bananas everywhere.

- Great number of Archontophoenix alexandrae strangely mixed with Euterpe edulis.

Here are my first sight observations.

We are now waiting for messages from our brazilian members and others.

Phil

[Nigel]

Phil, it is a pity you did not contact me or Alberto, we could have shown you some wondeful things in nature.

Anyway, I am glad you enjoyed the visit and the palms.

I think the climate is a little colder than 0C in Rio Negro and Curitiba, last week for example it was -5.3C in Curitiba which was very cold, and probably close to an absolute low for that city.

Most Butias in that region are eriospatha. I believe from memory the spiny trunk palm in Rio Negro is a Trithrinax acanthacoma.

The tree fern chachi or xachim is Dicksonia sellowiana, although the natives do apply this term also to a species of Cyathea growing here.

Edit, I just checked the weather stats and it says it wasnt negative in curitiba last week, yet on the news here it says it was -5.3C a record for may, so I dont know whats right .

Edited June 5, 2011 by Nigel

[EuroPalm]

Phil, it is a pity you did not contact me or Alberto, we could have shown you some wondeful things in nature.

Anyway, I am glad you enjoyed the visit and the palms.

I think the climate is a little colder than 0C in Rio Negro and Curitiba, last week for example it was -5.3C in Curitiba which was very cold, and probably close to an absolute low for that city.

Most Butias in that region are eriospatha. I believe from memory the spiny trunk palm in Rio Negro is a Trithrinax acanthacoma.

The tree fern chachi or xachim is Dicksonia sellowiana, although the natives do apply this term also to a species of Cyathea growing here.

Edit, I just checked the weather stats and it says it wasnt negative in curitiba last week, yet on the news here it says it was -5.3C a record for may, so I dont know whats right .

Hi Nigel,

Thanks for your answer.

I could have informed you about my visit but I did not go inside Santa Catarina state, just in Mafra (three days) and Guaratubà after having taken the ferry boat from Matinhos.

We are planing another travel in the future which will lead us to Florianopolis and Rio Grande do Sul.

I understand why I saw very few Euterpe edulis in Curitiba (5 in the stove house of the city botanical gardens and one near the rodoviara. - 5°C may be too much cold for this palm.

About the spiny palm on Rio Negro square (the one with an old german vapor tractor) it is located exactly on the corner of the shop selling chocolate drinks. I think it is an acronomia beacuse of its bulky trunk and because, except the spines, it looks like a Syagrus romanzofianum.

I found the Chaxi ferns very nice but as it is strongly protected I could not buy a small one to bring it back with me.

I have been to some nurseries around Matinhos and Moretes : Belvedere and two small ones on the road near Moretes and a garden center in Matinhos.

Speaking with the owners I learn that most of the plants they sell come from Santa Catarina. Particularly the manacà hybrids and fruit trees. Could you please tell us a little more about this production ?

What is your opinion about the frost hardiness of Euterpe edulis and Manacà do Serra ?

I bring back some seeds and cutings and now they are sprouting here.

Have you heard of Banana Santa Catarina prata ? Is it really frost hardy ?

Thanks for your help,

Um abraço,

Phil

[EuroPalm]

Phil, it is a pity you did not contact me or Alberto, we could have shown you some wondeful things in nature.

Anyway, I am glad you enjoyed the visit and the palms.

I think the climate is a little colder than 0C in Rio Negro and Curitiba, last week for example it was -5.3C in Curitiba which was very cold, and probably close to an absolute low for that city.

Most Butias in that region are eriospatha. I believe from memory the spiny trunk palm in Rio Negro is a Trithrinax acanthacoma.

The tree fern chachi or xachim is Dicksonia sellowiana, although the natives do apply this term also to a species of Cyathea growing here.

Edit, I just checked the weather stats and it says it wasnt negative in curitiba last week, yet on the news here it says it was -5.3C a record for may, so I dont know whats right .

Nigel,

I forgot on my list of palms :

- the beautiful Roystonea of Moretes

- the great number of Phoenix roebelinii everywhere in Paranà.

Phil

[Nigel]

Phil,

I must go back to Rio Negro, it really must be an acrocomia. I know there is also trithrinax in that city in a square.

Acrocomia is very unusual to see in that area.

Most production here occurs in Corrupa SC it is a city with over 50 producers ,the city is almost entirely devoted to ornamental production and the plants go to all of brasil.

In respect of Manaca and Euterpe edulis , when you leave the coast here in SC to go to the mountains it is entirely forested and incredibly beautiful , there is unending forest with manaca and euterpe , but as you come near to the tableland these plants totally disappear, its just to cold, they can handle down to around 0C.

Banana prata is common here and delicous. I have them in my garden. They can handle cold but again I do not think they can handle below 0C.

[Eric Hawaii]

Thanks Phil! I also was in Brazil recently, in Niteroi. There are so many palms that I couldn't identify. It's interesting to hear about what's in Parana by comparison. A lot of it is the same. The Syagrus is wild all over the state of Rio as well, but many of them are apparently other species of the same genus. Very beautiful species, but I don't know their names. The forests have a spiny-trunked palm whose leaves are similar to Atalea, but I think it only grows in the understory and never gets very tall. There is also Atalea in old-growth forests in the hills around Rio. Cocos has two distinct varieties around Rio. One is the large type that is similar Cocos in northeast Brazil. Another has shorter leaves and a thinner trunk and is usually only planted within the city. It may be a dwarf, but it is not as stocky as dwarf Cocos I've seen elsewhere. Cocos grows wild only in a few places along the Costa Verde, south of Rio, near the islands of Angra dos Reis and Ilha Grande. Tibouchina is also very striking in the forests around Rio, along with the yellow-flowered and pink-flowered Ipe trees, which is the Tabebuia I think. There is also a large Bombax type tree that has pink flowers.

[Eric Hawaii]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my avatar is a photo of a syagrus growing out of the forest in Ilha Grande!

[EuroPalm]

Thanks Phil! I also was in Brazil recently, in Niteroi. There are so many palms that I couldn't identify. It's interesting to hear about what's in Parana by comparison. A lot of it is the same. The Syagrus is wild all over the state of Rio as well, but many of them are apparently other species of the same genus. Very beautiful species, but I don't know their names. The forests have a spiny-trunked palm whose leaves are similar to Atalea, but I think it only grows in the understory and never gets very tall. There is also Atalea in old-growth forests in the hills around Rio. Cocos has two distinct varieties around Rio. One is the large type that is similar Cocos in northeast Brazil. Another has shorter leaves and a thinner trunk and is usually only planted within the city. It may be a dwarf, but it is not as stocky as dwarf Cocos I've seen elsewhere. Cocos grows wild only in a few places along the Costa Verde, south of Rio, near the islands of Angra dos Reis and Ilha Grande. Tibouchina is also very striking in the forests around Rio, along with the yellow-flowered and pink-flowered Ipe trees, which is the Tabebuia I think. There is also a large Bombax type tree that has pink flowers.

Good evening Eric-Hawaii-from-CA, good evening everybody,

Thanks Eric for your description of your visit around Rio De Janeiro and Niteroi.

I was very impressed too by the Tabebuia species (Ipe amarela and Ipe rosa).

We don't have them in Europe.

I am sure I will go back to Brasil next year as this country is so beautiful and deserves to be better known.

Thanks to brasilian people for their kindness and their great way of life with no stress.

Phil

[Takil-Explorer]

On Corsica you should be able to grow some hardier Tabebuia species! They have them planted in San Fransisco. And I have seen a species planted in Sao Joaqium. There they get snow and some frost in winter.

Alexander

[EuroPalm]

On Corsica you should be able to grow some hardier Tabebuia species! They have them planted in San Fransisco. And I have seen a species planted in Sao Joaqium. There they get snow and some frost in winter.

Alexander

Hi Alexander,

Yes, in fact I have got in the ground one Tabebuia ipe and one Tabebuia chrysotricha : both from seeds, one meter and half high, taking cold spells well (-3°C this winter) but still small compared to their Curitiban brothers......

It stays that Tabebuia are not commonly available in Europe except maybe in Canarian islands. I don't know any nurseries stocking them in France, Spain and Italy.

These trees deserves to be more widely planted.

Phil

[DoomsDave]

EP:

Did you take any pictures?

[EuroPalm]

Good morning members,

Of course I took a lot of pictures and films but I strangely realize that I have very few direct shots of palms…..

There are so many things to look at in Brasil !

Phil

Manacà do Serra (Tibouchina mutabilis) in Rio Negro city (Paranà State)

Syagrus romanzoffianum in the railway station of Mafrà (Santa Catarina state)

Dicksonia sellowiana (Xaxim) in the railway station of Mafrà (Santa Catarina state)

Dypsis lustescens in front of old house in Moretes (Paranà State)

[Nigel]

Phil I was in Mafra on tuesday to load a container of plants and it was -4C at 7am !!! In other places it reached -10C .

[amazondk]

Nigel,

We got the very end of that cold front. It rained and was cloudy all day and temperature did not get over 28 C. At night it was a pleasant 22 C or so. But, it is back to the amazonian summer now with the temperatures in the city pushing 40 C. The cold in southern Brazil is miserable because the houses are not made to keep one warm.

Phil,

Thanks for the pictures and the information. There are some very beautiful places down there.

dk

[Nigel]

The cold in southern Brazil is miserable because the houses are not made to keep one warm.

yes we have to huddle round the fire at night and in the day we wear coats in the house !! Its miserable alright but only for a few weeks a year. Still cold now but slightly better.

[amazondk]

Nigel,

I used to wear my long underwear sometimes when I lived in São Paulo. I always enjoy the news from down south, both when it is hot or cold. Temperatures that make the news down there when it is hot are just normal days here. To live in Amazonia you have to like both heat and humidity. Both are in abundance.

dk

[Nigel]

Nigel,

I used to wear my long underwear sometimes when I lived in São Paulo.

Hahaha I had to laugh when I read this, it conjures up a very funny image in my mind.

I think I prefer a few days of cold to non stop heat and humidity. In the short summer spells when its very hot and humid here I dont enjoy it either. The lovely thing about this area is that its unusual to feel either too hot or too cold, for most of the year the temperature stays in a very pleasant temperature range.

I even enjoyed my day in the mountains this week when it was frozen solid, reminded me of home.

[realarch]

Thanks for the pics, nice to see and hear stories from other parts of the world.

I chuckled too thinking about DK in his long handles walking around the house.

Where you been DK? Nice to hear from you.

[amazondk]

Tim,

In fact they were those whole body ones with the button opening in the back. They did work though. I really do not even remember why I had them there. As to other things moving along.

dk

[Alberto]

..............In respect of Manaca and Euterpe edulis , when you leave the coast here in SC to go to the mountains it is entirely forested and incredibly beautiful , there is unending forest with manaca and euterpe , but as you come near to the tableland these plants totally disappear, its just to cold, they can handle down to around 0C.

On the tablelands grows Tibouchina mutablis that is frost hardy. Tibouchina granulosa grows closer to the sea.

Nigel I found E.edulis growing in Reserva -Paraná at 850m altitude in Araucaria forest. I have seedlings of this palm growing here and they were fine after last freezes.