Chrysaldiocarpus id on palm acquired as Dypsis "Jurassic Park"

[Tracy]

I got this palm locally and later planted it in March 2016.  I believe it came from Jeff Marcus/Floribunda in 2014.  The first photo is when I planted it in March 2016 from a tall one gallon pot.  Photos of the newest leaf, underside of leaflets and the rachis.  As noted in the title it was labeled as Dypsis "Jurassic Park" when I got it.  Thoughts on whether this matches up with Chrysalidocarpus pilulifera or something else these days?

[Rob123]

I’ll be following this thread too since I believe that I have the same palm but from a different vendor. Similar age but still in a pot so a little behind yours. I’ve been stumped as well and had originally bought my JP thinking it was an Orange Crush since it still looked very similar to those at a 15g size. 

[D. Morrowii]

Tracy, do you remember if the leaflets were ever slightly plumose and un evenly spaced on the rachis? The picture from when it was first planted looks like the leaflets are even spaced and on a flat plane. My only experience with C. pilulifera is with the 2 I bought from Floribunda about 18 months ago. They both have longish vertical fronds with random looking leaflets that are slightly plumose. I’ve heard these can be variable though. The leaflets on the 2 I have also seem to be narrower then the one in the pics…maybe? If you want I can get a couple pics of these if you think it’ll help. 

[happypalms]

All I know is it’s one beautiful palm well done.

[Tracy]

  On 6/19/2024 at 11:49 PM, D. Morrowii said:

Tracy, do you remember if the leaflets were ever slightly plumose and un evenly spaced on the rachis? The picture from when it was first planted looks like the leaflets are even spaced and on a flat plane. My only experience with C. pilulifera is with the 2 I bought from Floribunda about 18 months ago. They both have longish vertical fronds with random looking leaflets that are slightly plumose. I’ve heard these can be variable though. The leaflets on the 2 I have also seem to be narrower then the one in the pics…maybe? If you want I can get a couple pics of these if you think it’ll help. 

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As with many palms, characteristics have changed as the palm has gotten older.  Yes, when it was young, the leaflets were mostly arranged in a flat plane, with little variation in the grouping of the leaflets.  That has changed with more grouping of leaflets and it has become slightly plumose, but nothing like my Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus.  I would always encourage someone to share photos if they think they will be insightful or if they have a related question about their palm.  Due to the changes that occur as palms mature, I'm hoping for feedback regarding more mature palms that had similar characteristics to mine when they were at this stage of development to see what they look like now and if the id has been confirmed with more age.

Photo below is the previous leaf to open.  It is a little funky as the twist in the leaf has the tip portion having the abaxial side of the leaflets pointing skyward instead of toward the ground.

[Rob123]

Here’s mine when I got it almost a year ago. 

[D. Morrowii]

@Tracy I figured you were looking for info  on a palm in a similar stage to yours but figured I throw in my 2 cents. Hopefully not too many pics.

Hardly a positive ID but.. Notice on the guy in the ground that the frond is twisted with the abaxial side facing up.  

[Billeb]

  On 6/20/2024 at 9:59 PM, Tracy said:

…..I would always encourage someone to share photos if they think they will be insightful or if they have a related question about their palm. 

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@Tracy I had a phone conversation with Jeff nearly a year ago about this and he flat out told me the palm he currently sells as Chrysalidocarpus Pilulifera was previously sold as Jurassic Park.  I bought a 1G Pilulifera and it looks similar to what @Rob123 has albeit smaller. 
 

-dale

 

[tim_brissy_13]

I’m not 100%, but it looks about right for what is now confirmed as Chrysalidocarpus pilulifer. C pilulifer was previous known as D ‘Jurassic Park’ so I’d say it’s likely. My C ‘pilulifer’ looks a bit different but I’m guessing it’s a hybrid with something like madagascariensis. It’s very plumose and already has a stem above ground rather than the fronds coming from ground level until a large size. 

[Tracy]

  On 6/20/2024 at 10:59 PM, D. Morrowii said:

@Tracy I figured you were looking for info  on a palm in a similar stage to yours but figured I throw in my 2 cents. Hopefully not too many pics.

Hardly a positive ID but.. Notice on the guy in the ground that the frond is twisted with the abaxial side facing up.  

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The palm you are growing looks like it is much more plumose and the leaflets are quite a bit more staggered/grouped than my specimen was at a similar age.  It also looks quite different from the examples Rob and Dale shared, which both actually look similar to mine when of similar size to theirs.  Leaflet length to width ratio is both shorter length and wider on your specimen.

Nice Chrysalidocarpus specimen but it does appear different to me from mine.

[Tracy]

  On 6/20/2024 at 11:54 PM, tim_brissy_13 said:

I’m not 100%, but it looks about right for what is now confirmed as Chrysalidocarpus pilulifer. C pilulifer was previous known as D ‘Jurassic Park’ so I’d say it’s likely. My C ‘pilulifer’ looks a bit different but I’m guessing it’s a hybrid with something like madagascariensis. It’s very plumose and already has a stem above ground rather than the fronds coming from ground level until a large size. 

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Tim I concur with your conclusion that your plant is likely a hybrid in that it is already forming above ground trunk.  Mine is still a ways off from an above ground trunk.

Here are photos addressing my previous comment on the ratio of leaflet length to width, my Rainbow 🌈 sandal for perspective.   I also am sharing a full Monty to show the length of the latest leaves to open which are easily 10' long, the newest reaching out and over a walkway the over my garage. 

[D. Morrowii]

I started wondering if maybe I mixed these up with something else somehow. So I went back to try and verify that I hadn't mislabeled these and after looking at the pics I’m pretty sure these are the same palms. They are still wearing their D pilulifera (now C pilulifer) labels from back in April 2022. Quite a few websites on the internet list Dypsis pilulifera as “Orange Crush Palm” including Rare Palm Seeds. Could the palms you guys shared pics of be Sp orange crush? Looking at pics on Palmpedia for C. Pilulifer it seems like the two I’m growing share a couple of the characteristics with those such as the semi plumose arrangement and the inconsistent leaflet grouping. Just a guess from my limited experience and because now I’m trying to verify the ID for what I’ve got here 🙂

[Hilo Jason]

  On 6/22/2024 at 2:38 AM, D. Morrowii said:

I started wondering if maybe I mixed these up with something else somehow. So I went back to try and verify that I hadn't mislabeled these and after looking at the pics I’m pretty sure these are the same palms. They are still wearing their D pilulifera (now C pilulifer) labels from back in April 2022. Quite a few websites on the internet list Dypsis pilulifera as “Orange Crush Palm” including Rare Palm Seeds. Could the palms you guys shared pics of be Sp orange crush? Looking at pics on Palmpedia for C. Pilulifer it seems like the two I’m growing share a couple of the characteristics with those such as the semi plumose arrangement and the inconsistent leaflet grouping. Just a guess from my limited experience and because now I’m trying to verify the ID for what I’ve got here 🙂

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If your palms above came from Floribunda (as it looks like), then the pilulifera ID is referring to the irregular / plumose palm. “Orange Crush” has regular leaflets. The parent plumose Pilulifera is an incredible looking palm, one of my favorites at Floribunda. 

[Hilo Jason]

Tracy, not sure if it helps but here’s a palm I bought here from Jerry Andersen as “Jurassic Park”.  It’s been pretty slow which is rare in my Pepeekeo garden. 

 

[iDesign]

Bringing back this thread to add my own confusion regarding the "Jurassic Park" thing. I was visiting the garden of @Josh-O and fell in love with a particularly monstrous Dypsis / Chrysalidocarpus. It has abnormally fat leaves and a huge, beefy trunk. Was hard to get a photo of it, but here are my two attempts (note how much thicker the leaves are than on the palm in front of it)...

When I asked him what the name of this bad boy was, he said "Jurassic Park". Is it though?

The photos I've seen online of C. pilulifera appear to be much less "beefy" than this dude. When I asked if he had any seedlings from the palm he said he had a plant "sold to me as Jurassic Park", which I bought hoping it might grow into the same Beast.

----

Now that it's home (and I'm reading more about the "Jurassic Park" history) I'm doubtful that what I bought is going to grow into the plant I fell in love with (above). Anyone want to venture a guess on the following two questions?

1) What is your guess as to the identity of the palm shown above?
In other words, if I wanted this plant, what ID would I likely be looking for? My initial guess was that it was one of the Prestoniana types, but he had a Prestoniana not too far from this, and it looked pretty different to me.

2) What did I likely buy?
Is my plant something that could grow into a monster like the one above, or is it more likely something with a much thinner trunk and leaves? Here is a photo of the plant I bought (Josh had in full sun, but it's currently in mostly shade to recover a bit).

[tim_brissy_13]

  On 6/22/2024 at 5:52 PM, Hilo Jason said:

If your palms above came from Floribunda (as it looks like), then the pilulifera ID is referring to the irregular / plumose palm. “Orange Crush” has regular leaflets. The parent plumose Pilulifera is an incredible looking palm, one of my favorites at Floribunda. 

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Hi Jason,

I recently found out my palm purchased as D pilulifera (now C pilulifer) originally came from Floribunda seed. Do you know which other Chrysalidocarpus sp are flowering nearly to the C pilulifer at Floribunda? I’m convinced mine is a hybrid based on growth habit and colour (and the fact that it’s even alive in my far from ideal climate). Any photos you have of the mature C pilulifer at Floribunda would also be great if you have any 🙂

[coops 3214]

  On 4/25/2025 at 2:48 AM, tim_brissy_13 said:

Hi Jason,

I recently found out my palm purchased as D pilulifera (now C pilulifer) originally came from Floribunda seed. Do you know which other Chrysalidocarpus sp are flowering nearly to the C pilulifer at Floribunda? I’m convinced mine is a hybrid based on growth habit and colour (and the fact that it’s even alive in my far from ideal climate). Any photos you have of the mature C pilulifer at Floribunda would also be great if you have any 🙂

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You have hit the jackpot with the hybrids Tim your place is like QLD  how good are they going to be in 20years time gonna have an epic canopy 

[tim_brissy_13]

  On 4/25/2025 at 6:33 AM, coops 3214 said:

You have hit the jackpot with the hybrids Tim your place is like QLD  how good are they going to be in 20years time gonna have an epic canopy 

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They’ve done heaps better than I expected. Got 5 hybrid Chrysalidocarpus in the front yard and they are all rockets. My C pembanus x madagascariensis are probably 4m tall but do spot up a bit after winter. 

[Hilo Jason]

  On 4/24/2025 at 11:03 PM, iDesign said:

Bringing back this thread to add my own confusion regarding the "Jurassic Park" thing. I was visiting the garden of @Josh-O and fell in love with a particularly monstrous Dypsis / Chrysalidocarpus. It has abnormally fat leaves and a huge, beefy trunk. Was hard to get a photo of it, but here are my two attempts (note how much thicker the leaves are than on the palm in front of it)...

When I asked him what the name of this bad boy was, he said "Jurassic Park". Is it though?

The photos I've seen online of C. pilulifera appear to be much less "beefy" than this dude. When I asked if he had any seedlings from the palm he said he had a plant "sold to me as Jurassic Park", which I bought hoping it might grow into the same Beast.

----

Now that it's home (and I'm reading more about the "Jurassic Park" history) I'm doubtful that what I bought is going to grow into the plant I fell in love with (above). Anyone want to venture a guess on the following two questions?

1) What is your guess as to the identity of the palm shown above?
In other words, if I wanted this plant, what ID would I likely be looking for? My initial guess was that it was one of the Prestoniana types, but he had a Prestoniana not too far from this, and it looked pretty different to me.

2) What did I likely buy?
Is my plant something that could grow into a monster like the one above, or is it more likely something with a much thinner trunk and leaves? Here is a photo of the plant I bought (Josh had in full sun, but it's currently in mostly shade to recover a bit).

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Hard to tell in those pictures what that big palm that Josh has in the ground might be. There are 3-4 types of Prestonianus though so it could possibly be one of them. The “beefiest” one I’ve seen here in Hawaii came in as “Mony Mony” years ago. It’s a very impressive plant and my favorite of the Prestonianus varieties that I’ve grown and seen. 
 

As for the palm you bought, hard to tell at that size but could possibly be Pilulifera. If so, that’s a great plant. 
 

If Josh still has something called “Aff. Tokoravina”, or “Tokoravina” then you would probably definitely want one of those. That’s about as big as it gets for a Dypsis / Chrysalidocarpus. That could possibly be the palm he has in the ground that you like.  

[Hilo Jason]

  On 4/25/2025 at 2:48 AM, tim_brissy_13 said:

Hi Jason,

I recently found out my palm purchased as D pilulifera (now C pilulifer) originally came from Floribunda seed. Do you know which other Chrysalidocarpus sp are flowering nearly to the C pilulifer at Floribunda? I’m convinced mine is a hybrid based on growth habit and colour (and the fact that it’s even alive in my far from ideal climate). Any photos you have of the mature C pilulifer at Floribunda would also be great if you have any 🙂

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I will try to look through my Floribunda photos for a picture of the Pilulifera. 
 

If I saw your picture without you saying anything about it, I would say it’s a Prestonianus hybrid. I have grown several and they all look like yours at that stage. 

[tim_brissy_13]

  On 4/26/2025 at 5:51 PM, Hilo Jason said:

I will try to look through my Floribunda photos for a picture of the Pilulifera. 
 

If I saw your picture without you saying anything about it, I would say it’s a Prestonianus hybrid. I have grown several and they all look like yours at that stage. 

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Yeah agree. I’d think prestonianus was in the mix but I somewhat trust the source saying seed came from Floribunda. Funnily enough I also have this palm from the same source as C prestonianus that actually had a sucker when I got it and is clearly a hybrid. I need to confirm but I think seed may have also come from Floribunda.