My large bottle palm has presented me with its first unaborted seed crop. These few dozen seeds have been in process about 18 months, compared with my two spindles across the driveway which seem to drop thousands of small seeds a couple times a year.

So, I have questions. Spindle and bottle palm info tells me both species have black seeds when ripe. But my bottle is dropping its olive-sized fruit when they are barely turning orange. Could these seeds be viable anyway? Are they worth my attempt to clean and germinate them?

Is there a chance that pollen from spindles could have fertilized my bottle's flowers all those months ago? My spindles seem to flower constantly. In fact, my bottle just opened an inflorescense of its own.

Are bottle x spindle crosses of any importance, monetarily or aesthetically?

Best way to find out is cutting it in half