Big Chamaedorea Elegans

[David_Sweden]

How come these two specimens look so different? Both are around 100cm incl pot:

The left one I think is attractive because of how it's lushfully gushing out of the pot, creating its own little jungle. The right one is more elegant and equally pretty I think. Can't decide which one I like most.

My best guess is that the left one has had light from all directions and the right one only from the ceiling, perhaps crowded by 100 other ones like it at the sides. But that's just me guessing. And sometimes when I compare bought palms with home grown ones I get the feeling the growers might have some tricks to make them stretch. I mean look at them, most people wouldn't suspect it's the same plant!

[Brad Mondel]

Two different palms here. The first one is Chamaedorea Elegans the second looks like Dypsis Lutescens.

[Pal Meir]

That's the matter: Ch. elegans left and D. lutescens right. I can't undestand why they always plant so many individual palms together. And in the case of D. lutescens even a suckering palm! But also with Ch. elegans you have to plant only max. three palms in one container.

[David_Sweden]

Ouch, that means this seller at eBay has the tags wrong then (search for the word "elegans" and you'll find images of 2 sizes). The one that is 65-70cm incl pot looks fine but bigger pot than necessary.

I like it like a bush with 20 seeds. But I think it's a bad idea with a suckering palm like D. lutescens. This is mine when newly bought for $3 and 11 months later ~60cm incl pot. The only palm I know that actually likes being in my bookshelf (with two CFLs):

Here's two more bushy one tagged Chamaedorea elegans that looks very nice:

But when I think about it when it gets older having 20 bare stems in the lower part might not look so nice anymore (160cm incl pot):

Perhaps it it better to have just a few palms per pot: (40-50cm + pot)

Here are a bunch or solitary ones:

[Pal Meir]

The palm on the last photo is not Ch. elegans, it looks like Ch. seifrizii, a large suckering Chamaedorea. As for the first photo I am not sure …

[Alicehunter2000]

I don't know Pal....that second kind of looks likes D. lutescens to me too.....kind of funny because just the opposite happened a couple of weeks ago for me. A bunch of lutescence were marked down at the box store and I happened to notice one C. elegens .....promptly snached it up ...... great indoor plants.

[David_Sweden]

Sorry the last one is a Chamaedorea costaricana. It was posted here under headline C. Elegans didn't notice it was something different. Don't know which you mean is the first photo, there's a bunch, but the first solitaire is by Palmbob, the 3rd just sold on ebay for £2,50, the 4th from Palmtalk. Yep I agree the 2nd photo in my first posting most likely is D. Lutescens (but sold as C Elegans).

[Pal Meir]

@David i Sverige: Ch. costaricana has ligules on the leaf sheaths, Ch. seifrizii has none. Otherwise both species are very similar, so the lable may be correct.

@David in Florida: The leaf sheaths of photo #2 look for me more Chamaedorea-like, but it is hard to decide …