C. ovobontsira sp. Metallic or Vatovavy Blue ?

[realarch]

Just a beautiful palm, nice color and scale. Dropped a frond a few days ago which is always worth looking forward to. Note the leaf nodes, pretty fast grower. 

Tim

[Kim]

Does it have any blue tint? I have something supposedly Vatovavy Blue, but there is zero hint of blue. It's very small now and very slow, fronds just going sideways for now. It looks quite a lot like C. loucoubensis. Probably different from what you have there.

[peachy]

That's a very pretty palm Tim. How long has it been in the ground and 'tropical' are they climatically speaking ?

Peachy

[realarch]

Aloha Kim, when the palm was small, I do remember it having shiny dark green leaves that did have a metallic look to it…….if you crossed your eyes. I also have C. loucoubensis and they have always looked rather different. The latter has always had medium green pinnae. Mine as planted from a 15 gal., so it’s root system was well established and it has grown relatively fast.

Tim 

[realarch]

Peachy, I agree, it’s a handsome palm. I acquired it in a 15 gal.(66 liter) pot back in 2017. Since the ID is still in question, I’m not really sure of its temperature limits. Here in Hawaii it’s a moderately fast grower, having absolutely no trunk when first planted. I hope they are available somewhere close to you. 

Tim

[Tracy]

3 minutes ago, realarch said:

Peachy, I agree, it’s a handsome palm. I acquired it in a 15 gal.(66 liter) pot back in 2017. Since the ID is still in question, I’m not really sure of its temperature limits. Here in Hawaii it’s a moderately fast grower, having absolutely no trunk when first planted. I hope they are available somewhere close to you. 

Tim

Tim, as you pointed out those internodes are the telltale on speed.   Unless these just start out really slow, Kim's plant probably is something different.   Perhaps we will learn more when your palm sets seed.  It is another beautiful Chrysalidocarpus,  whichever one it is.

[happypalms]

Doesn’t matter what it is it’s absolutely gorgeous 

[Hilo Jason]

Looks amazing Tim. Definitely what was going around as “metallic ovobintsira”. The Vatovavy blue looks a lot like Ampasindavae.  Is that now called C. loucoubensis?  I had the chance to hike Mount Vatovavy in Madagascar and didn’t see anything like your palm there. But there was a lot of one that looked similar to Ampasindavae. Didn’t see any sort of blue on them though so not sure where that name came from. Maybe just a seed seller tacking it on to make us palm people go crazy, hah! 

[Kim]

Very helpful comments, Tim & Jason. Yes, C. ampasindavae is now C. loucoubensis. I agree with Peachy, that palm is a beauty! Nice size, too -- big but maybe not like toting the fronds of a prestonianus or canaliculatus! 

[realarch]

Thought I’d post an update of this standout palm. It’s grown quite a bit in 18 months still exhibiting wide internodes. Although the dropped frond doesn’t have the weight and heft of say C. prestonianus, it can still be a hernia inducing lift. Ufta!

Tim

[Rob123]

Awesome pictures! I love the crownshaft colors and leaf structure…it’s almost Lemuropheonix like at that stage. It’s definitely a top 5 Dypsis/Chyrsalidocarpus for me!
 

Mine has been pretty slow in the ground the past year and a half but I know that these heeled Dypsis take a few years to get established before they can start growing vertically. 

[realarch]

Thanks Rob, once it gets its feet, you should see some noticeable growth. Great color from a very early age as well. Thankfully it’s not the beast that the Lermur is. 

Tim