Veitchia vitiensis

[realarch]

This little palm from Fiji is quite a stunner with it’s dark grey almost black crown shaft, thin trunk, and droopy crown. I originally acquired three bare root seedlings, one died, one is on the puny side, and the other one is swoon worthy. That description is probably impinging on Daves’ copyright. 

Here are some photos.

Tim

[realarch]

A few more....btw, that’s a shovel handle next to the trunk for scale in the first post..

Tim

 

[PalmatierMeg]

That is nice. I tried one from Jeff Marcus but it died while I was out of town one winter. Will have to try again.

[Palm Tree Jim]

Love the species Veitchia.

Well grown!

[kylecawazafla]

Beautiful palm and it looks really well grown! I love that crownshaft. How are your Wettinia doing, btw?! 

[realarch]

Aloha Kyle, the Wettinia are doing well. The taller one had a bout of something but seems to have shaken it off. The stilt root South American stuff in general, are pretty happy.

Tim

[John hovancsek]

Absolutely amazing uncle Tim .  I just put a V . Simulins in and it has a similar appearance and is also from Fiji 

[Tracy]

8 minutes ago, John hovancsek said:

Absolutely amazing uncle Tim .  I just put a V . Simulins in and it has a similar appearance and is also from Fiji 

That prompts a request for a photo of it.  As John said, your V vitiensis is "incroyable"!

[realarch]

Thanks Meg, Jim, Kyle, John , and Tracy. John, uncle is just about the nicest things one could call me, and I’ve been called many less flattering adjectives. 

Tracy, you should submit, ‘incroyable‘, for inclusion to the dictionary. 

I think we should turn this thread to include all Veitchia.

Tim

[Daryl]

One of my favourite species of Veitchia! Thanks for posting, Tim.

[John hovancsek]

My garden is in the (beginning) phase and the one I put in was a 1 gallon so here is the mother palm at florabunda 

[realarch]

This little Veitchia always looks great, especially sporting a large spathe. Flowering is infrequent and I can only surmise that it’s a function of having just the right amount of rainfall. I’d throw in temperature and humidity, but those conditions don’t fluctuate much in East Hawaii. We’ve had over 100” (2500mm) since the beginning of the year. 

Here are a few updated photos.

Tim

[Jonathan]

It's a perfect little palm, love the scale...the first pic in the original post was quite deceptive! 

[JD in the OC]

wow! It has grown a lot. I have a couple in 3 gallon pots starting to trunk and the trunks are only as thick as my thumb very peculiar Veitchia. Hoping to get flowers and pollen off of them for hybrids.

JD

[JD in the OC]

[realarch]

Justen, I originally had three of these little guys. One died shortly after planting, one hung on for a few years, and the one in the photo flourished. The trunks are incredibly thin, although the lone survivor’s trunk has become much more robust. This is only the second inflorescence it’s produced, so fingers crossed. 

Good luck.

Tim

[JD in the OC]

so your opinion, it is difficult to grow, even in Hawaii's climate?

JD

[realarch]

I kind of think that the larger size of plant you acquire might have a lot to with success. Mine came as bare root babies wrapped in paper towels and tin foil. They are soooooo fragile at this stage of life and sometimes  can never seem to outgrow the frailty. No more bare root specimens for me, not only because of the cost, but the high mortality. 

Tim