The Palmetum Of Santa Cruz

[Neofolis]

This is somewhat overdue from my April visit.  Carlo gave my wife and I a great tour and I was able to take many photos on the way.  You can see the entire gallery at Palm Haven, along with other galleries or you can go directly to this gallery here.

As with my previous photo tours, I will show a selection of palms and other plants in alphabetical order by genus.

Acoelorrhaphe wrightii - this picture has featured in another thread recently.  I was particularly impressed with this species, as I'm not usually a fan of fan, but this clump is gorgeous.

Acrocomia crispa

Adonidia merrillii

Aechmea blanchetiana

[Neofolis]

Allagoptera arenaria

Archontophoenix purpurea

Areca triandra

Arenga tremula

[Neofolis]

Astrocaryum standleyanum

Bactris major

Bentinckia nicobarica

Billbergia brasiliensis

[Neofolis]

Bismarckia nobilis

Borassus flabellifer

Brahea armata

Caryota cumingii

[Neofolis]

Ceroxylon sp.  (Carlo has mentioned that Ceroxylon species seem to struggle in Tenerife)

Chamaedorea metallica (Split Leaf Form) - Branching

Chambeyronia macrocarpa

Coccothrinax borhidiana

[Neofolis]

Cocos nucifera - Coconuts tend do better further south on the Island, where I saw many large and healthy examples.

Copernicia baileyana

Cordyline sp.

Corypha utan

[Neofolis]

Crinum giganteum

Cycas circinalis

Daemonorops sp.

Desmoncus sp.

[Neofolis]

Dictyosperma album

Dioon mejiae

Dypsis cabadae - It's tough to choose, which Dypsis species to show you, but I particularly like cabadae.

Elaeis guineensis

[Neofolis]

Gaussia princeps

Hemithrinax compacta - Yes, there is a palm there.  If I had had time to edit the photos properly, I could have shown this in somewhat closer detail.

Heterospathe elata

Howea forsteriana - Howea belmoreana features in the gallery as well, but I actually prefer the more common one.

[Neofolis]

Hyophorbe verschaffeltii

Jubaeopsis caffra

Kentiopsis oliviformis

Latania verschaffeltii

[Neofolis]

Licuala spinosa

Livistona saribus

Neoregelia maculata

Pelagodoxa henryana - Complete with Carlo

[Neofolis]

Ponapea hosinoi - This would fit just nicely in my polytunnel.

Pritchardia hillebrandii

Pseudophoenix sargentii

Ptychosperma elegans

[Neofolis]

Ravenea glauca

Roystonea lenis - One of which, with definite crownshaft colour.

Sabal mauritiiformis

Syagrus amara - The smallest of the Syagrus species on display, but definitely my favourite.

[Neofolis]

Thrinax excelsa

Trithrinax acanthocoma

Veitchia sp.

Wallichia disticha

[Neofolis]

Wodyetia bifurcata

Zombia antillarum  - Carlo exposing the "Thatch" that I really should have got a better picture of.

That's it for now.  Hopefully that will keep you palm junkies happy for a few minutes until your next fix.  If there are any mistakes regarding ID's, it's probably where I have photographed the wrong palm, rather than Carlo giving me the wrong name, but if there are any errors, feel free to comment.

[happ]

Thanks for the tour, Corey  

[Kris]

Dear Neo  

thanks for the lovely coverage.

And dear carlos don't you folks have some CIDP in that place...

since you,neo,max,imjv,robert,juan are all phoenix lovers,

in perticular some of you have it as your avatar...

Neo & Carlo thanks for that lovely trip we all had without spending anything...

Lots of love,

Kris  

[Carlo Morici]

Thank you Corey for your great report.

We have an enormous bunch of good news about the Palmetum, I will explain more later, but I will tell that local political authorities just signed the creation of the "Fundación Canaria del Jardín Botánico del Palmetum de Santa Cruz". I am still astonished - dreams came true. After years of struggle, in the next years the Palmetum will become a public botanic garden with direct links to research, education etc.

We now also have 20 workers for 5 months, improving irrigation, mulching and planting new palms and new areas.

I have very few name-comments to add: the pictured crinum is Crinum asiaticum, the "giant" form collected in New Caledonia in 2000, the Borassus is B.aethiopum, grown from seeds collected in Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos, Cuba, in 1996. The group of coconut trees look so sad because they suffered a severe drought in summer 2006, a few of them even died and the rest is slowly recovering. In the past they had a much better look and produced "lots" of coconuts.

Kris, the main surface of the Palmetum is divided in biogeographical sections, devoted to different areas of the globe, no Phoenix canariensis grow there. Nevertheless, the main entrance of the Palmetum is dedicated to Phoenix canariensis and the termophilous woodlands of the Canary Islands so there are about 300 trunking Phoenix canariensis growing in a huge slope facing North, together with dragon trees and other species typical of this type of woodland.

Carlo

[Neofolis]

Thanks Carlo, I will endeavour to get my website updated with the correct names shortly.

[SubTropicRay]

Corey,

Great photos of the Palmetum.  It looks like you had a great time.

Ray

[Neofolis]

Ray, Carlo is such a good and knowledgable host that even my wife enjoyed the tour and she is really not into palms.

[paulgila]

wonderful tour,corey!you were right about "many species",& lots that we only wish we could grow in socal.

[Dave-Vero]

Carlo, it's great to hear that the Palmetum finally has a future, and to see that the public will be able to enjoy an excellent collection on opening day.  

I'm sure the new Fundación Canaria del Jardín Botánico del Palmetum de Santa Cruz will face plenty of challenges (keeping visitors interested, providing tours/education, fundraising, recruiting volunteers, finding irrigation water??), but the Palmetum should become very popular with residents and tourists.