Chamaedorea elegans

[Nico94]

Hi,

could you say me what is the mâle and female flower?

Thank you.

Nicolas.

[Patrick]

Mostly a guess, but I'm gonna say male? I would expect the female flower to have fewer branches, and the branches would be fatter if it were a female.

Although I've never had an elegans flower on me (yet). I have dealt with several other Cham. species.

Here's a link, scroll down about halfway and there is a side by side comparison of the two sexes.

http://www.junglemus...dorea_palm.html

And the final way to find out, wait until a few of those flowers have opened up- they're just about ready. Give it a shake and pollen will probably come out. Not much, but you should be able to see it.

Edit: My bad! I didn't pay enough attention there. Female would be the one on the left.

[Kostas]

The pictures are not clear enough to tell for sure unfortunately. The first is of an immature inflorescence and thus the sex cant be determined. The second inflorescence seems mature and should be easy to tell with a clear,close up photo of the flowers.

The differences observed on the flowers of different sex of C. elegans are basically the following:

Male: Flowers and little more numerous but not much. The flowers remain green and the petals open to reveal the whitish anthers.

http://www.fossilflowers.org/imgs/CDBacon/r/Arecaceae_Chamaedorea_elegans_10374.html

Female: A little fewer flowers than the male. The flowers turn a yellow color on the outside but the petals never open much.

http://www.fossilflowers.org/imgs/CDBacon/r/Arecaceae_Chamaedorea_elegans_10371.html

[tjwalters]

The pictures are not clear enough to tell for sure unfortunately. The first is of an immature inflorescence and thus the sex cant be determined. The second inflorescence seems mature and should be easy to tell with a clear,close up photo of the flowers.

The differences observed on the flowers of different sex of C. elegans are basically the following:

Male: Flowers and little more numerous but not much. The flowers remain green and the petals open to reveal the whitish anthers.

http://www.fossilflowers.org/imgs/CDBacon/r/Arecaceae_Chamaedorea_elegans_10374.html

Female: A little fewer flowers than the male. The flowers turn a yellow color on the outside but the petals never open much.

http://www.fossilflowers.org/imgs/CDBacon/r/Arecaceae_Chamaedorea_elegans_10371.html

I've had a lot of flowering C. elegans over the years and I've never seen flowers like those depicted as male in the first link above. Those flowers also do not match Hodel's description of staminate flowers in Chamaedorea Palms (pg 37). He also states (pg 38) that "Staminate and pistillate flowers of C. elegans are similar in size, shape, and color, and it is more difficult to distinguish the sexes than in other species of the genus. Both sexes have flowers with petals that are firmly united nearly to the top, resulting in a triangular opening at the apex of the corolla." Not sure to what Chamaedorea species the flowers in the first picture belong.

Kostas - any chance of getting a better shot of the mature flowers?

[Patrick]

Yes, perhaps both male.

[Kostas]

Tom,

That is very interesting. These are not my pictures,i found them while searching for close ups of male and female C. elegans flowers to sex mine. I also have never come across a C. elegans with flowers like the male ones pictures but i just assumed i have not paid close enough attention to the flowers. Do you maybe have any close ups of your Chamaedorea elegans flowers of both sexes?

[aquabug222]

Hi Everybody!

I am pretty sure I have a C. elegans (parlor palm).

Is there any way to tell if it is a male or female plant?

I think it would neat to grow some of the plants from seeds but I am guessing I would need another plant right?

Thank you!

- Chris

[aquabug222]

Here is a picture of the seed.

[Ampli]

It seems like a male one.

[Brucer]

Yes, both male.

My c. Costaricanas are absolutely full of seeds currently.