How does this flame thrower look?

[miamicuse]

Curious, how long does a leaf stay red?  Does it turn to green after some time?

[96720]

It depends on the weather in the summer here it doesn’t take long to turn green maybe a couple of days in the winter they stay colored for a week or two!

[miamicuse]

Thank you.  I am considering getting one (been considering for some time) because I want a bigger specimen, something with at least 2 feet or more of trunk, and I like to see the color of the leaf before buying and I may never see one available locally in that condition lol.

[sonoranfans]

I was thinking about big marcocarpas in containers with no obvious red and lots of trunk but still in a container.  To some degree, these palms get sold by the red leaf and if it is emerging the chances of purchase is higher.  This could mean that older palms that you see on sale that do not have a new leaf to observe are more likely to be green ones.  For example if its a 1/5 chance of green from seed, with 2-3' of trunk the chances of it being a green one probably are higher(it would have a higher chance of already being sold).           Color depends on the concentration of anthocyanin and position of the observer with respect to the sun.  All chambeys will be less red to the obvserver as they grow tall (unless you are a bird or are flying drone) because light passing through the leaf will have some chlorophyll absorption(passes green).   WHen the sun is at your back and you look at a palm, you get mostly reflected light that has passed through the epidermal layer only.  I have (5) chambeys, two hookeri one watermelon and one regular macrocarpa and all show color.  None were red when I bought them but I trusted the seller who indicated they threw red leaves.  The hookeri seem to need the bright sun to look their most red and the others dont like bright sun, they macrocarpas burn easily and look less colorful in bright sun.