Which palms has the longest leaf?

[enigma99]

I was under one of my mature queens this evening and realized one leaf was 16ft long.. got me thinking which palm holds the record for leaf length. Anyone know?

[kinzyjr]

This might help: Which Plant Has the Largest Leaves in the World?

[enigma99]

2 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

This might help: Which Plant Has the Largest Leaves in the World?

82ft? Good lord. What must that be like when they come crashing down. 

[GottmitAlex]

King kong plants. Wow!

[kinzyjr]

Just now, enigma99 said:

82ft? Good lord. What must that be like when they come crashing down. 

Likely would not make the homeowner's insurance company happy.

[The Silent Seed]

Raphia regalis is just incredible!!! I wonder if it's in cultivation? I'd love to see one someday! 

[Patrick]

One leaf would fill up my green waste bin very quickly!

[Merlyn]

The Raphia Farinifera is almost as big, and is sort-of-available in cultivation.  It's a little smaller, only 20 meter fronds = 165 feet diameter!!!  It's hard to grasp just how big a Farinifera or Regalis would be.  A full grown Farinifera would cover 13250 square feet, 1/3 of an acre in space, or about 5 average houses.  A Regalis covers over 21,000 square feet, basically 1/2 acre or 8.5 average houses in the US.  

Farinifera is possibly 9b cold hardy, I'm kinda glad that I live at the 9a/9b border so I'm not too tempted to try to grow one.    The plus side is that the fronds are persistent and not self-cleaning, so you can choose when the frond will come crashing down and destroy your car, house or wide swathes of your landscape!

Edited August 12, 2019 by Merlyn2220

[Trent]

3 hours ago, Merlyn2220 said:

The Raphia Farinifera is almost as big, and is sort-of-available in cultivation. 

They've got a good sized one of these at the Dallas World Aquarium in the greenhouse that's pushing 60ft I'd say

[The Silent Seed]

I need to find some seeds!!! Of either one! 

[Trent]

21 hours ago, santoury said:

I need to find some seeds!!! Of either one! 

Polynesian Produce Stand used to have Raphia Farinifera I believe, on eBay. I haven't seen any for sale on there in a while though unfortunately. They do have tons of other cool palms though!

http://www.ebaystores.com/Polynesian-Produce-Stand

[The Silent Seed]

Thank you Trent! I know this vendor and have bought a few things from him in the past - he has nice selections most of the time.

Thank you! 

[Stevetoad]

heres raffia farinifera that i saw while on maui. seeing this plant made me dig mine out of my garden.