The first three photos are of the same palm, I. geonomiformis. The first is from August 2011 while the others are from last month. The other is I. bicornis, freshly planted. Apparently I failed to photograph the I. wallichia and the I. wallichia var. major (spectabilis). These are the only plants of this genus I've actually seen. So photos and your growing experiences would be most welcome!

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I love Iguanuras but most of them hate my climate - they go into a funk & die. The only species I've been able to keep alive is I. wallichia I got from Floribunda several years ago. I actually planted it and it survived two brutal back-to-back winters but I dug it up last summer (along with my Areca catechu dwarf) & put it back on the lanai. It still survives. Great photos of spectacular little palms.

Cindy. I agree these are great little palms. I wish I had more of them. I've got I. wallichiana var. wallichiana and

I. wallichiana var major, and they are both doing well. Been in the ground for about 3 1/2 years and I wish I

had planted in a more prominent spot. Easy care so far, a bit on the slow side, and great color on the new leaf.

I'll hunt for a pic of the new leaf, but in the meantime here is a pic of the I. wallichiana var major. Total shade all of the time.

Maybe Bill Austin will post some pics of his beautiful specimens.

Great to hear from both of you. I'm glad to hear both of you are growing them and thanks for the photo!

I am kind of ashamed to post this abused Iguanura wallichiana, one of three recently planted. They were in tiny pots that still managed to get weedwhacked, so I thought the only way they could survive would be to plant them. Red emergent leaf is evident, even with this sad little specimen. Please light a candle for each of them, they need all the encouragement they can get.

This is an interesting genus, and I hope to explore other species. Good for you for planting so many itty-bitty palms! I like your bravura!

My largest iguanura elegans --still in a pot

Producing flowers already --but for this genus we need males and females right?

I wonder what sex this one is?

My smaller iguanura elegans that we planted in the ground

close neighbors with a L. Mapu

My Iguanura wallichiana var 'major' seedlings that are showing some variability

These 2 are the normal ones

I don't know why this one turned out scrawny. Really small and averything about it seems to be slim and elongated

THis one is pretty robust but the leaves are divided into segments. maybe teh next leaf will be entire again but I have to wait to see.

I think these are monoecious with unisexual flowers on the same plant. At least that's what my books report. However we all need several because they are beautiful anyway. Great collection of seedlings!

Here's another more pinnate form of I. wallichiana

Lovely! I do wish I could hike on my farm NOW to find and photograph my other Iguanuras that I hope are still alive!

Cindy,

Iguanuras are great looking palms, and the wallichiana var. major in particular is quite impressive. Good luck with yours!

Bo-Göran

Kim,

My palms "worry" about being strangled by vines and getting no sun overshadowed by other weeds in our jungle. They don't have a chance of getting weedwhacked since we don't even own one there. However, accidental machete chops are possible! I think your Iguanura will be fine with that nice new leaf. It's a good thing most palms seem pretty tough. As usual, yours and everyone else's palms are bigger than mine. What you think of as small is good sized to me!

Bo,

Thanks for the encouragement. I hope my var. major is still growing without me. I'm pretty careful to remove the PVC pipes (to reuse them) and put the aluminum tag in a ziplock bag for any plant that doesn't survive. I bring the ziplock bag back to Virginia and add the plant back to my "wish list". Thankfully most repeat purchases are because I like them so much I want more, rather than replacements. So I'm hopeful that last month I just didn't walk on the path next to the other two Iguanuras I still have in my inventory list. I'm promising some sort of bounty to my husband when he visits our farm in October for each missing palm he finds, photographs and records the location. Now I'm using the voice memo function on my new camera when I plant them to help minimize misplaced palms!

Cindy, hopefully all will be fine with your palms in your absence. We went back and forth to the mainland

leaving the small palms for 3 to 4 months at a time before we moved here full time and we never lost one.

Here's another I initially thought was a Calyptrocalyx, but it's clearly an Iguanura. Looks like a kissing cousin to Kim's.

Simply gorgeous!

Cindy,

Sounds like you have a pretty good system for keeping track of your palms. I built up a database for each individual palm that I planted in my old garden. Several thousand. The one thing I found to be the most difficult to keep track of was when a particular palm died. With several hundred palms in one area, you may not necessarily notice if one out of several in a group simply is gone one day and that WILL happen. And more likely with smaller palms. My greatest losses, percentage wise, was with 4 inch size palms. For all sorts of reasons. I generally don't plant them that small any more, preferring to get them up to a nice 3 or 5 gallon size. The exception would be if the palm in a 4 inch pot is already 2 ft tall or so. That's "plantable". Anyway, for someone who like to keep track of their palm inventory, having a good handle on not just what goes INTO the ground but also what "disappears" is critical.

Bo-Göran

Cindy,

Found it! Here's a pic of the new leaf on I. wallichiana 'major. It's a killer new leaf, but only lasts a few days.

Really nice color Tim! Even though it may only last a few days, sometimes that makes it even more special. I must admit, some of the orchids that stay in bloom months don't seem as enthralling as the ones that last just a day.

As to keeping track of palms, once we get internet on the farm I'll probably find it easier. Internet is available there, just not worth the monthly fee when we are there so infrequently. My husband's Droid phone can do the basics if he walks up the hill a bit. Right now I do have a separate pvc pipe and label for each palm. Mostly I just have 1 representative of each monoecious species, due to planting space and time constraints (and $). I'd love to buy some more land and add more of the ones I like the best since I know one hurricane could wipe out whole genera.... After I move, I'll certainly wait until the palms are bigger before planting them. It was just impossible for me to wait 8 years after buying the farm (before I could retire) and delay planting. I'm really surprised my experiment with popping tiny seedlings into the ground has worked so well-- so far! Everyone's advice on this forum has been priceless!

As an aside to all who are reading this thread, I would like to point out that apaandssa, aka Cindy Adair, is on the ballot for IPS director. If you haven't voted yet, I will boldly suggest she is worthy of your consideration. In any case, make your own choices, but please vote!

Here are my iguanuras some are a little sunburned I have been cutting down some big shade trees to make room for more palms.

came in as I sp. souththailand a long time ago I think it is polymopha

tenuis

wall. major

divergens

bicornis

????

sorry pic. are not very clear

?

impressive as always bill

Bill, Your collection looks suitable for any official Botanical Garden! Thanks for taking the time to post all those species for our enjoyment and education.