Chamaedorea falcifera

[John Case]

Does anyone know anything about this species? A local nursery has a large multistem in stock.

Is it a clustering palm? How much sun does it take? What are its low temp tolerances?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Thanks,

JC

[Ben in Norcal]

2 minutes ago, John Case said:

Does anyone know anything about this species? A local nursery has a large multistem in stock.

Is it a clustering palm? How much sun does it take? What are its low temp tolerances?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Thanks,

JC

Uh oh, I think I know where that is and have been eyeing it up myself!  

You have dibs...

[John Case]

You will probably have better luck with it than me. I always worry about the lows with this genus.....

No entries about it in Palmpedia; nothing about it except it is from Guatemala.....

[Ben in Norcal]

I have also been searching for info.  Every time I go there, it flutters its eyelashes at me, and I stand in front of it, fruitlessly trying to find out more on my iPhone...

[Pal Meir]

According to Hodel 1992, p. 66 "It is either very rare, extinct, or an atypical C. neurochlamys or C. pinnatifrons.“
http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Chamaedorea_neurochlamys
http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Chamaedorea_pinnatifrons

The only description (copied by Hodel) is published by Moore in Principes 2 (1958). It is described as "solitary, slender, 1-6 m tall."

[XYZ]

It is extremely doubtful that Chamaedorea falcifera (currently viewed as a synonym of C. pinnatifrons) is in cultivation outside of a few plants in Guatemala. It is not a clustering palm. 

It is worth noting that Donald Hodel and Juan José Castillo were unable to find the palm at the type locality during their extensive work on Guatemalan chamaedoreas in the early 90s, in spite of the fact that they discovered two very distinctive new spp. (nationsiana and castillo-montii) nearby. Juan José has subsequently done dozens of botanical collection trips to the area and has told me that he has yet to come across a palm that he would ascribe definitively to falcifera. 

About 15 years ago I found some young plants of what I suspected was falcifera within two km of the type locality. They are extremely striking when young, dark green with very broad terminal pinnae with a very distinct iridescent sheen to them, rather reminiscent of metallica. I grew several seedlings out and some years later a pair produced fruits from an open pollination, confirming my tentative ID. Unfortunately, the palms are depressingly unremarkable as adults, with only the very broad terminal leaflets and reniform fruits distinguishing them from many local pinnatifrons populations. Perhaps due to the lack of a trace element in their growing medium the palms lost their metallic lustre fairly early on. 

In September of this year, a friend of mine who is photographing native palms in situ came across a couple of young plants in same forest complex (but higher up) where I found it. Like me, he was also struck by the metallic aspect of the leaves and wondered what it was. As soon as I saw his photos, it was obvious that he had also found falcifera.

Until molecular work has been done on the many local pinnatifrons variants, I'm reluctant to opine as to the validity of these palms at specific level. Based on my very limited experience with them, but having spent many hundreds of field hours in the area where they occur, I would say that this particular form, whose description is based entirely on its fruit shape, is very rare and restricted to primary lowland rainforest relics in eastern Guatemala

[Darold Petty]

John, plants labeled as such were sold by San Francisco Foliage, a wholesale broker of plant material grown for the indoor foliage trade.  I examined these plants with my Hodel Chamaedorea book in hand, but I could not make any decisive conclusion about pinnatifrons/falcifera.

   Since falcifera is so rare, it is probable that this is just an atypical form of C. pinnatifrons.  I think this plant would burn up anywhere east of the Caldecott tunnel as an outdoor plant. 

[Ben in Norcal]

3 minutes ago, Darold Petty said:

John, plants labeled as such were sold by San Francisco Foliage, a wholesale broker of plant material grown for the indoor foliage trade.  I examined these plants with my Hodel Chamaedorea book in hand, but I could not make any decisive conclusion about pinnatifrons/falcifera.

   Since falcifera is so rare, it is probable that this is just an atypical form of C. pinnatifrons.  I think this plant would burn up anywhere east of the Caldecott tunnel as an outdoor plant. 

Even in deep shade, Darold?

[Darold Petty]

Ben, if you have deep shade prove me wrong !  I would like that !

  Remember, no one will learn anything new if we just conform to the current assumptions.

  (I am so old I can remember a time when no one recognized that Dypsis decipiens had any frost hardiness. )     

[Ben in Norcal]

I do have deep shade - east facing, protected even from morning sun by high pine canopy, and under a 10 ft+ shade net structure.  Maybe worth a try if it's likely to have a cold hardiness of high 20s or better.

[John Case]

Thanks to all on the responses and based upon them, I am going to take a pass on these trees. Ben, if you are successful in bringing them into seed, I'll gladly relieve you of some of them!

 

JC

[Palm crazy]

I just saw this palm locally and the price was outrageous….$132.00 for a 5 gallon. Interesting leaves and looks like other chamaedorea I’ve seen for much less. But still isuppose to be a good one for indoors cause it only grow to 6’ tall and loves shade.  I’m sure the one up here will be around for a while, enough time for me to think about it anyways. The one I’ve seen came from Sunborne nursery in the bay area.

Edited January 9, 2016 by Palm crazy

[Tomsky]

I got a Chamaedorea falcifera from a San Jose Nursery.  It looks like a multi-trunked Ch. Oblongata with darker leaves.

[Tomsky]

On examining my plant more closely, it appears to be a set of three separate single trunk plants.

[Tyrone]

Bumping this along does anyone know the colour of the fruit or a picture of the infructense. I have 2 maybe even 3 specimens I bought from Rosebud Farm as this species back mid 2000s and I’m trying to find out a bit more about them. One has set infertile seed and they are black and tightly packed on the fruit spike.

[Tyrone]

Just went out and took some pics. It appears I have two females and one male. I may have to help them along and see if I can get some fertile seeds. But I’m not really sure of the species even though I bought them as falcifera. They appear identical to a picture listed on the Pacsoa website as falcifera.

[Tyrone]

http://www.pacsoa.org.au/wiki/Chamaedorea_falcifera

Here is the link to the PACSOA site for C falcifera. My plant looks identical but it looks unlike any of the pics from the US for C falcifera in this thread.