Pachypodium lamerei cristate form

[Tracy]

I have had this Pachypodium lamerei for about a dozen years or more.  I'm still waiting to see if it ever blooms.  This cristate/fasciated form was in a much smaller pot for several years before I planted it up into the current pot.  I'm curious if anyone else is growing one and whether anyone has had any bloom?  I got this from George Sparkman and I know he was advertising these on his website for quite a while after I acquired mine and before I got it.  I assume there are at least a few out there from people who acquired one from him.  Share your growth experience if you have one.

[Tracy]

Here is what this fasciated Pachypodium lamerei looked like a dozen years ago in 2011.

[Tracy]

And older photo of garden fertilization with my Pachypodium lameri cristate form playing a secondary role to get your attention and then back to the actual question with current photos of the plant.  No flowers yet on this specimen, which I assume is because it is the cristate form.  Anyone have feedback on how old their normal form of Pachypodium lameri first started to flower? 

[Tracy]

It has been at least 13 years since I got this Pachypodium lamerei now.  I have yet to see a flower on it or any apparent start of a blossom.  If you are growing the normal form, what season or when in the growing season does it typically bloom and what size plant was it when it began blooming?

[Silas_Sancona]

7 hours ago, Tracy said:

It has been at least 13 years since I got this Pachypodium lamerei now.  I have yet to see a flower on it or any apparent start of a blossom.  If you are growing the normal form, what season or when in the growing season does it typically bloom and what size plant was it when it began blooming?

These usually start flowering right about now - sometime in early / mid - fall ( maybe longer in warmer areas ) ...  As far as flowering height?  pretty sure  the standard form has to be over a meter or so before they start.  Smallest flowering specimen i recall seeing was no shorter than approx 4 or 5ft. Some of the shorter / compacter forms might flower at a shorter height.

At 13 years old, i'd think the largest / oldest stems should've tried to do something flowering - related by now.  I myself would probably cut / root / repot those healthy looking,  older stems / some of the non cristate / normal - looking smaller offsets   and see what they do in 2-4 years.

Might look over the various subsps in this link: https://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/SUCCULENTS/Family/Apocynaceae/10823/Pachypodium_lamerei

 

[Jubaea]

Right now my in ground plant is shedding last years leaves and starting to grow this years leaves and inflorescence.  It started booming a few years ago around 5 feet in height.  I planted it in the raised bed about 10 years ago from a 4" pot.  Flowers won't open here for at least another month or two as it has been quite cool with daytime highs in the upper 60's with lows in the 50's.  It can have open flowers into November/December from the the inflorescence it is pushing out now.  My plant will grow until around December or January when we usually get a bit of frost.

[realarch]

Nathan, thanks for the link, what an unusual plant, especially mature specimens. 

Tracy, have you considered putting the plant in the ground? ( I’m sure you have) Albeit setback, I wonder how it’s growth and flowering might be altered. Then again given its age, there’s probably no point in that. 

Tim

[Silas_Sancona]

12 minutes ago, realarch said:

Nathan, thanks for the link, what an unusual plant, especially mature specimens. 

Tracy, have you considered putting the plant in the ground? ( I’m sure you have) Albeit setback, I wonder how it’s growth and flowering might be altered. Then again given its age, there’s probably no point in that. 

Tim

They're one of the stranger semi-succulent plant groups out there w/ numerous species.. Madagascar's spine covered answer ( most, but not all sps ) to Plumeria.  Same family as Plumeria and Adenium < Desert Rose > as well.

Assuming some are grown in Hawaii?

Like them all but P. decaryi  and P. baronii  are my top 2 favorties in the Genus.

Photo from Baobabs.com of a P. decaryi specimen in flower.. *** Photo Credit: Baobabs.com ***





More than likely P. lamerei / form of...  but have kept an eye on this specimen growing on Longboat Key near Sarasota after observing it anytime i passed through the area when i lived there. 



 

[Tracy]

On 6/10/2024 at 2:38 PM, Silas_Sancona said:

These usually start flowering right about now - sometime in early / mid - fall ( maybe longer in warmer areas ) ...  As far as flowering height?  pretty sure  the standard form has to be over a meter or so before they start.  Smallest flowering specimen i recall seeing was no shorter than approx 4 or 5ft. Some of the shorter / compacter forms might flower at a shorter height.

At 13 years old, i'd think the largest / oldest stems should've tried to do something flowering - related by now.  I myself would probably cut / root / repot those healthy looking,  older stems / some of the non cristate / normal - looking smaller offsets   and see what they do in 2-4 years.

Might look over the various subsps in this link: https://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/SUCCULENTS/Family/Apocynaceae/10823/Pachypodium_lamerei

 

So the closest form of Pachypodium lamerei in the link you shared to my specimen is the Pachypodium lamerei f. cristatum the big difference is in the arrangement of the leaves.  The trunk forms a fan on mine with the many heads emerging from that fan.  That is part of the novelty of it.  I got this from George Sparkman when he had several along with the standard form.  I have only seen one other.  That was years later, for sale at a retail nursery just a couple of blocks from home.  It could very well have come from the same source that George got his from or even passed through his hands at one point.  I don't recall him saying where he got his from, if they were plants he grew from seed or acquired and was just reselling.  The other term George used when selling these was "fasciated" which has a definition of:  "showing abnormal fusion of parts or organs, resulting in a flattened ribbon-like structure."

Tim, I intentionally have kept this one potted to retain the cristate structure.  I may have said somewhere before that I had the "normal" form 14 years ago planted in the ground from a 1 gallon size plant.  It doubled in size in short order but was the one and only plant that I have had stolen out of my front yard.  Albeit, I was not living in the house at the time because it was a rental property.  The regular form is readily available through nurseries in the area, but I just haven't been motivated to add the regular form to the garden again.  If I were to try, I might do one of the other Pachypodium species.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, Tracy said:

If I were to try, I might do one of the other Pachypodium species.

Would look over this article palm Bob had put together regarding the other sps, esp. thouse that can be grown w/ out much issue in the ground there: https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/539