Arenga sp. ID (Kopsick)

[GoatLockerGuns]

This Arenga sp. at Kopsick in St. Petersburg, Florida was one of the few palms that were not labeled.  The fruit and seeds look like Arenga engleri; however, the fronds do not look right to me.  They seem too "bushy" for Arenga engleri.  Does anyone know if this is Arenga engleri and, if not, what species this is?

 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

Maybe Arenga Tremula

[GoatLockerGuns]

48 minutes ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

Maybe Arenga Tremula

That is one possibility.  Also, Arenga pinnata is a possibility.  There is another Arenga pinnata at Kopsick that is labeled (see attached picture - Arenga pinnata on the left).  It is much larger, so a "side-by-side" comparison is difficult.

 

[Silas_Sancona]

I'm pretty sure those are A. engleri,  but no worries if wrong.   ..if i remember right, pretty sure there were a couple clumps planted up front by the street side corner of the parking lot, to the left of the monster Attalea ( if you're looking at that particular part of the bed from the parking lot ) When flowering, you could smell them as you walked into the park if the wind was blowing the right direction.  I'd bet those were probably trimmed up quite a bit.. another group that were quite "bushy" last time i saw them were cleaned up a bit in more recent years, at least going by pictures i'd seen posted here compared to pictures i took back then... Were next to impossible to walk through / beneath, -if you wanted to,  last time i saw them in person, before moving here.


I noticed someone did a partial walk through of the park  via google street view back in Aug ( they forgot to walk through the heart of the collection though, lol )..  It's only been like 6 years since i moved, but man has stuff grown since, even the slower stuff..

You can see the same clumps, though maybe fuller from street view pictures from the parking lot taken in July of this year as well.

[GoatLockerGuns]

9 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

I'm pretty sure those are A. engleri,  but no worries if wrong.   ..if i remember right, pretty sure there were a couple clumps planted up front by the street side corner of the parking lot, to the left of the monster Attalea ( if you're looking at that particular part of the bed from the parking lot )

Here is the physical location of the Arenga sp. in question:

Here it is on Google Maps Street View:

https://www.google.com/maps/@27.7823435,-82.6264599,3a,75y,32.95h,87.38t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sD3YjGhTuHKCgRG1A6ayVjw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I think we are talking about the same Arenga sp.  Can you confirm?  I had forgotten about it, but there is also a labeled Arenga australasica in that same planting bed (see picture attached below):

[Silas_Sancona]

14 hours ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

Here is the physical location of the Arenga sp. in question:

Here it is on Google Maps Street View:

https://www.google.com/maps/@27.7823435,-82.6264599,3a,75y,32.95h,87.38t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sD3YjGhTuHKCgRG1A6ayVjw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I think we are talking about the same Arenga sp.  Can you confirm?  I had forgotten about it, but there is also a labeled Arenga australasica in that same planting bed (see picture attached below):

Yep, same group..   There may have had a sign next to them in the past, but, at least during the time i lived in the area and visited Kopsick,  I'd see signs disappear or get defaced on a fairly regular basis, even if the stake was still there.. Hopefully that has stopped.

Remember the A. australasica specimen, though i thought it was in a different area ...more over toward where the Foxtails and Bismarcks are.. I see what i'm thinking are the trunks of the twin Carpoxylon specimens which are on a corner curve of a bed on the far right / possibly the variegated Foxy Lady?  toward the top left hand corner in your shot as well..  ( That, or it's been so long and i'm starting to forget where things were,  haha )

Think I'm gonna have to look through my pictures again 😄..

[GoatLockerGuns]

Picture of the cleaned seeds below.  They look like Arenga engleri seeds, but I imagine there are other Arenga spp. seeds that resemble Arenga engleri seeds.  Some fruits contained two seeds; others contained three seeds.  I am going to go with Arenga engleri unless someone can prove me wrong.

[Silas_Sancona]

20 hours ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

Picture of the cleaned seeds below.  They look like Arenga engleri seeds, but I imagine there are other Arenga spp. seeds that resemble Arenga engleri seeds.  Some fruits contained two seeds; others contained three seeds.  I am going to go with Arenga engleri unless someone can prove me wrong.

Looks good to my eyes...

Provided they germinate ( found them to be pretty easy myself, though some seed were slower to sprout )  you should be able to close the book on an ID.

Here's my pair after a few years. Pretty sure these came off the "bushier" A. e. clumps over by the Foxtails / Bismarcks. Think the specimen in question didn't have seed on it when i collected some.    No bottle rockets, but have done better than i'd have expected here, minus some burn to the second, somewhat stump-ier one. 

Went against some conventional "potting mix" wisdom and potted them in nothing but a sandy grit / Turface mix ..w/ just a little organic stuff ( Mushroom Compost ) mixed in when transferred out of their com. pot.  Aside from the stumpy one suffering more sunburn than the other, haven't fed w/ anything except some K at all.. If anything, ..i kind of abuse them, lol 

May be nice and step them into 5's in March. ( Currently in 3gals ) 😁

Best looking seedling:



Older leafs w/ silvery backs





Newest leaf



Shorter .."stumpy" specimen:  Pretty sure I have pictures from right after they'd started to germinate somewhere..