Acrocomia totai

[thyerr01]

I was in Orlando this week for work and took Fri-Sat to ride the velocicoaster and make the drive to Dade City and Lake Alfred to see the Acrocomia totai.

Dade City - I saw maybe 10 trees in eight different locations around town. All looked pretty healthy. Only a couple, the first and last, really have any spines on the trunks. 1, 2 and 5 grow on the side of the road and are publicly accessible, but I didnt see any seed.

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by thyerr01

[thyerr01]

Lake Alfred - These were at the Mackay Gardens & Lakeside Preserve. Definitely a better place to see them, with maybe 15-20 specimens all easily accessible. A few were dead and some were dying, seemingly from Ganodema - they had large conks at the base. There was a lot of old seed here, mostly with holes. After some searching I was able to gather 7 seeds without holes which seem rock solid. All float, not sure if this is normal for these? They are meant to remain viable for a while. Several of the palms had visible flowers, but I couldn't tell if they were old or new (see pic 3).

[Meangreen94z]

Very nice. Thank you. Im germinating totai seed. They took over a year to show life, as advertised.

[kinzyjr]

They take forever and the fruit smells like dish soap

[idontknowhatnametuse]

The seeds only float when they have remains of the pulp/fruit, I tried germinating 5 A. aculeata and one that had some pulp still floated, the other 4 sunk completely. Try removing all the remaining oil as well. I only have Acrocomia aculeata but I'm pretty sure Totai grows faster and is a bit hardier.

Also, did you see any seedlings around the palms?

[thyerr01]

The few seeds I found were completely dry and have no pulp/fruit left on the outside. I'll update once I cut them open later this week. I did find 1 or 2 fruits that had been partially eaten by something and had some remaining pulp, but the seeds were damaged. I saw perhaps 5-10 strap leaf seedlings at the Mackay Gardens location around the base of some of the A. totai, but there were several Queen palms and Sabals scattered around and they might have been from them. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures.

[Fusca]

@thyerr01, thanks for posting these pics.  I was in Orlando last week as well and hoped to see these palms but a rental car disaster limited me to only 2 days with a vehicle.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

Any update on your seeds?

[thyerr01]

I cracked the seeds open but they either had dust or shriveled non-viable embryos inside. I wasn't surprised. Would love to track some of these down, I think they would do well in Houston.

Edit: Are the people growing these in the US all collecting their own seed from Florida? Or do some of the members on here have mature fruiting trees? I understand that the spines and germination issues strictly limit them to hobbyists, but as a potentially cold-hardly palmate species for the gulf coast, I'm still surprised they are so hard to find.

[ahosey01]

53 minutes ago, thyerr01 said:

I cracked the seeds open but they either had dust or shriveled non-viable embryos inside. I wasn't surprised. Would love to track some of these down, I think they would do well in Houston.

Edit: Are the people growing these in the US all collecting their own seed from Florida? Or do some of the members on here have mature fruiting trees? I understand that the spines and germination issues strictly limit them to hobbyists, but as a potentially cold-hardly palmate species for the gulf coast, I'm still surprised they are so hard to find.

There's a big one that fruits down here that I can take you to if you want to make the drive.  Survived 2021 unscathed to my knowledge.

[Tazkam]

Just a question about the first two pics posted at the top.

I was recently looking into knowing more about Acrocomia species. Those images show what is said to be a mature A. totai. But its trunk is totally spiny. I was seeing that it loses most of its trunk spines as it ages. Unlike A. aculeata, which retains its spines through life.

Am I missing something about the differences in these 2 Acrocomia species?

[idontknowhatnametuse]

On 8/14/2025 at 1:51 PM, Tazkam said:

Just a question about the first two pics posted at the top.

I was recently looking into knowing more about Acrocomia species. Those images show what is said to be a mature A. totai. But its trunk is totally spiny. I was seeing that it loses most of its trunk spines as it ages. Unlike A. aculeata, which retains its spines through life.

Am I missing something about the differences in these 2 Acrocomia species?

They don't drop their spines by themselves, it depends on the weather and animals; humidity, wind, rain, wildfires, birds, squirrels and other animals that could break them. Old ones in habitat are normally spineless because the weather is more harsh in there and there are animals that depend on this species so they climb the trunk to get the fruit. This "losing spines over time" thing also happens with Acrocomia intumescens, the clean trunk antilles variety of Acrocomia aculeata (Ex. Acrocomia media) and sometimes but more rarely it happens to non-self cleaning Acrocomias like the mexican Acrocomia aculeata.

[Fusca]

On 12/7/2024 at 12:30 PM, ahosey01 said:

There's a big one that fruits down here that I can take you to if you want to make the drive.  Survived 2021 unscathed to my knowledge.

I'd like to see it!  😊

[Meangreen94z]

9 hours ago, Fusca said:

I'd like to see it!  😊

Is yours doing well? 

[Fusca]

13 hours ago, Meangreen94z said:

Is yours doing well? 

It's growing pretty well now, thanks!  It was attacked by a rabbit in the spring so I had to put a fence around it.  How it managed to chew through an entire frond without getting stabbed I don't know!  Hopefully it'll start taking off in the coming year.

[Meangreen94z]

43 minutes ago, Fusca said:

It's growing pretty well now, thanks!  It was attacked by a rabbit in the spring so I had to put a fence around it.  How it managed to chew through an entire frond without getting stabbed I don't know!  Hopefully it'll start taking off in the coming year.

Wow, those heavy rains have definitely done their part. I gave up on trying them in Lago Vista. Between the last 5 winters and the dry summers with intense UV I figure there are better places for them to go . I put the last live seedling in Pearland at my parents yard. If you end up with extra seed again I don’t mind helping you germinate them.

[Fusca]

33 minutes ago, Meangreen94z said:

Wow, those heavy rains have definitely done their part. I gave up on trying them in Lago Vista. Between the last 5 winters and the dry summers with intense UV I figure there are better places for them to go . I put the last live seedling in Pearland at my parents yard. If you end up with extra seed again I don’t mind helping you germinate them.

This guy is in full all day sun and doesn't seem to mind.  😄  If Adam shows me the local palm I should get more seeds.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

On 12/7/2024 at 12:30 PM, ahosey01 said:

There's a big one that fruits down here that I can take you to if you want to make the drive.  Survived 2021 unscathed to my knowledge.

Any photos of it?

[idontknowhatnametuse]

3 hours ago, Fusca said:

This guy is in full all day sun and doesn't seem to mind.  😄  If Adam shows me the local palm I should get more seeds.

In my experience, the hotter it gets, the faster Acrocomias grow. When we hit above 40⁰C they grow very fast.

[Fusca]

We're in the upper 30's every day but not quite up to 40°C yet.  My aculeata grew pretty fast in San Antonio with just slightly higher daytime high temperatures.  38.3°C is our highest temperature so far since I planted it but hoping it speeds up some soon.  😊