Phoenix roebelenii

[garrytsen]

Phoenix roebelenii is normally seen in cultivation as a solitary palm. Quite by chance, I encountered clumping P.roebelenii which are said to exist in the wild as clustering palms.After checking, I found Interesting thing that the cultivated forms of P.roebelenii are solitary and have been selected for that way for many dozens of years.True wild forms are rare in cultivation, but they cluster and continue to be this way the whole life, making for a huge shrub.

[DoomsDave]

Yes, you note correctly

[gyuseppe]

garry really nice and should also be rare, this palm is in china?

my impression or the leaves are slightly larger than of roebelenii that sell in nurseries?

[PalmatierMeg]

Garry, in 2010 I got some seeds from RPS listed at "Phoenix roebelenii Mekong River". Is this the same palm you are talking about? Supposedly, this is a clustering wild ancestor of today's P.r. and is highly endangered in Vietnam because of river damming. I have around 6 seedlings in strap leaf stage and they are very slow compared to most Phoenix I know.

[garrytsen]

GIUSEPPE ,it has larger leaves and shorter trunk than P.roebelenii in cultivation.The above ones are clumping no more than 1m trunk bearing red fruits already whereas the normal solitary flowering P.roebelenii I saw are over 2m tall to have seeds.

Meg,these wild clumping P.r are said to be naturally distributed in the river valleys of the Mekong in Vietnam and southern China,but reported to be soon extinct in the wild which is why they are rare to see.

So yours could be the same as the ones I showed if they show clustering features.The first time for me to get seeds, and will try them out to see how they go. Thanks for sharing with me your experience.

[LJG]

Garry I have seen them in Laos and I can see why people choose the single trunk clutivated form. It is a big, prickly mess as a natural clumper. Looks like a messier, smaller Reclinata in ways. I can't remember who but a few years back a grower here in SoCal had some clumping ones available.