This small Ceroxylon amazonicum was planted out as a 4” liner up here in Northern CA a few years ago. Seems happy enough but so slow. Who else is growing this species and please post photos. My fastest growing Ceroxylon is C. alpinum and looks close to showing some real trunk soon. 

C. amazonicum

C. amazonicum

That's a cool-looking palm, Jim, even though it may still be pokey, and wonderful that you have one alive...am I wrong in remembering that some people have still had some trouble with this species being temperamental despite its much warmer native environment compared to its "head in the clouds" brethren? The most recent revision of the genus says it has a very restricted altitude range of 800-1200masl. That elevation in Ecuador sounds like it would still be quite warm so it seems to point to quite a bit of flexibility if you're growing it in Los Altos Hills. Maybe it will speed up very soon, I am personally a big fan of this genus but now live in a place where it could scarcely be considered methinks. Please keep us posted with photos of this as well as your almost-trunking C. alpinum as they develop!

56 minutes ago, mnorell said:

That's a cool-looking palm, Jim, even though it may still be pokey, and wonderful that you have one alive...am I wrong in remembering that some people have still had some trouble with this species being temperamental despite its much warmer native environment compared to its "head in the clouds" brethren? The most recent revision of the genus says it has a very restricted altitude range of 800-1200masl. That elevation in Ecuador sounds like it would still be quite warm so it seems to point to quite a bit of flexibility if you're growing it in Los Altos Hills. Maybe it will speed up very soon, I am personally a big fan of this genus but now live in a place where it could scarcely be considered methinks. Please keep us posted with photos of this as well as your almost-trunking C. alpinum as they develop!

C amazonicum grows well here even in the colder spot in Melbourne like up in the Dandenong Ranges where freezing temperatures are common. It seems C amazonicum borrows its hardiness from its close relatives and doesn’t necessarily follow with those with common habitat. 

Once again Jim another great palm you have when you collect palms it’s not what you know but who you know.

Hey Jim, late reply but here's my little fella looking pretty happy on a midwinter morning at 43 degrees south. 

12 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Hey Jim, late reply but here's my little fella looking pretty happy on a midwinter morning at 43 degrees south. 

Cute little guy. I hope it grows huge in the coming years! You have a really nice Ceroxylon collection! 

This little Ceroxylon amazonicum endured a lot of stress to get to California eventually! I ordered it in 2025 directly from an Ecuadorian nursery. It ended up in Florida quarantine for weeks, then arrived in California bare-root, half-dead and bone-dry! I tented it in plastic and kept it in standing water for weeks. It's now putting out its second leaf.  I've not had much success with this species in the past, but I'm trying again. This palm hates heat waves, so I'll probably keep it indoors in a pot for the future. Eventually it may end up at a Bay Area botanical garden like the C. sasaimae seedlings I grew in the past. 

20 minutes ago, Hillizard said:

This little Ceroxylon amazonicum endured a lot of stress to get to California eventually! I ordered it in 2025 directly from an Ecuadorian nursery. It ended up in Florida quarantine for weeks, then arrived in California bare-root, half-dead and bone-dry! I tented it in plastic and kept it in standing water for weeks. It's now putting out its second leaf.  I've not had much success with this species in the past, but I'm trying again. This palm hates heat waves, so I'll probably keep it indoors in a pot for the future. Eventually it may end up at a Bay Area botanical garden like the C. sasaimae seedlings I grew in the past. 

I ordered two from likely the same source, but they both dried out and died despite copious watering. I was pretty disappointed, it sounds like you gave them better artificial respiration when they arrived 

1 hour ago, PlantMorePalms said:

I ordered two from likely the same source, but they both dried out and died despite copious watering. I was pretty disappointed, it sounds like you gave them better artificial respiration when they arrived 

Sorry to learn yours didn't live! The Bay Area is more in line with this species climate preferences than interior NorCal. In my case it was likely more just luck than horticultural skill that allowed it to survive.

Mine has grown really well throughout our summer despite multiple days of extreme heat. Mine gets filtered light for most of the day; it’s on the south edge of a south facing garden (southern hemisphere) so larger palms in the garden give it a degree of protection but definitely does see at least brief periods of direct sun throughout the day. 

24 minutes ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Mine has grown really well throughout our summer despite multiple days of extreme heat. Mine gets filtered light for most of the day; it’s on the south edge of a south facing garden (southern hemisphere) so larger palms in the garden give it a degree of protection but definitely does see at least brief periods of direct sun throughout the day. 

Good information. I'll keep this in mind if/when I plant mine out in my crowded palm garden. Yours looks great!

This week has been a real trial for my little Ceroxylon amazonicum! Today at 3 PM the temperature... in the shade... was 106 °Fahrenheit (41.11 °Celsius). It's putting out its second leaf since it arrived at my place from Ecuador (via Florida). I'm keeping it in shade and in a deep saucer of water. Hopefully it'll put out a pinnate leaf before year's end?

Great to see this post revived . I knew nothing about these until I saw one in Ventura at Terry and Sevin Sullivan’s place . It towers over the garden with a dominance like royalty . I didn’t know it was heat sensitive but it seems to like the coastal Ventura climate. Harry

10 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Great to see this post revived . I knew nothing about these until I saw one in Ventura at Terry and Sevin Sullivan’s place . It towers over the garden with a dominance like royalty . I didn’t know it was heat sensitive but it seems to like the coastal Ventura climate. Harry

Harry, always a BIG wow! Just amazing.

Tim

10 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Great to see this post revived . I knew nothing about these until I saw one in Ventura at Terry and Sevin Sullivan’s place . It towers over the garden with a dominance like royalty . I didn’t know it was heat sensitive but it seems to like the coastal Ventura climate. Harry

Harry I think the consensus is that this one is Ceroxylon ventricosum which is a little different to C amazonicum with its plumose fronds rather than arranged in a single plane. I will say I’ve always thought the Sullivan Ventura Ceroxylon could be C quindiuense - it just seems to have that slightly plumose look rather than very obviously plumose like C ventricosum I’ve seen.

It’s very interesting how there are no Ceroxylons in Hawaii. I tried planting 10 of them. I think I have one survivor and it’s only about a foot tall after 10 years.

1 hour ago, Mauna Kea Cloudforest said:

It’s very interesting how there are no Ceroxylons in Hawaii. I tried planting 10 of them. I think I have one survivor and it’s only about a foot tall after 10 years.

It is very curious that there are a few palms that don’t do as well in tropical climates. A lot of palms have a 3x growth rate when compared to temperate climates. Harry

1 hour ago, Harry’s Palms said:

It is very curious that there are a few palms that don’t do as well in tropical climates. A lot of palms have a 3x growth rate when compared to temperate climates. Harry

Our issue seems soil related. Our Volcanic soil seems ill suited for ceroxylon.

3 hours ago, Mauna Kea Cloudforest said:

Our issue seems soil related. Our Volcanic soil seems ill suited for ceroxylon.

Hmm I doubt it. Ceroxylons grow like weeds in NZ and they’ve got volcanic soil. I can’t really think of a reason why some of the lower elevation Ceroxylon sp like C amazonicum and C ravenii wouldn’t do well. I know the high elevation Ceroxylon are known to dislike high temps and high humidity in combination so I’d say that’s the limiting factor in most cases.

Concerning Ceroxylon, since living here for the last 17 years and touring a number of gardens, ( I’ve lost count), I don’t ever remember seeing a Ceroxylon of any size. Well, I take that back, I’ve had a C. alpinum growing in the garden for 14 years now. Considering it’s a high altitude cloud forest palm, it continues to grow slowly being totally out of its element. In fact it just put out a new frond after hearing it was in competition with Jonathan’s palm in Tasmania. Power on…I guess?

Tim

21 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Hmm I doubt it. Ceroxylons grow like weeds in NZ and they’ve got volcanic soil. I can’t really think of a reason why some of the lower elevation Ceroxylon sp like C amazonicum and C ravenii wouldn’t do well. I know the high elevation Ceroxylon are known to dislike high temps and high humidity in combination so I’d say that’s the limiting factor in most cases.

That’s an oversimplification. I don’t think that New Zealand has tropical latosol structure like Hawaii has. Furthermore, we have plenty of higher elevation locations that would support ceroxylon climate wise. Yet there’s practically no ceroxylon in Hawaii except for dwarf runts that somehow survive. I still have one that puts on New fronds.I’m at higher elevation where I’m able to grow other Cloudforest Palms. I am able to grow parajubaea. I also successfully grow a number of New Zealand conifers and my particular microclimate is cold enough to grow coast redwoods and deciduous maples.

So I continue to be puzzled by the absence of Ceroxylon including the Amazonicum which even Jeff Marcus did not plant in the ground in his collection even though he produced them in his nursery.

5 hours ago, realarch said:

Concerning Ceroxylon, since living here for the last 17 years and touring a number of gardens, ( I’ve lost count), I don’t ever remember seeing a Ceroxylon of any size. Well, I take that back, I’ve had a C. alpinum growing in the garden for 14 years now. Considering it’s a high altitude cloud forest palm, it continues to grow slowly being totally out of its element. In fact it just put out a new frond after hearing it was in competition with Jonathan’s palm in Tasmania. Power on…I guess?

Tim

I am going to look to see what mine is doing because I know there’s at least one that’s still alive. I have also toured a lot of gardens on the big island and I still have not seen a single Ceroxylon. I have a number of large palms that are rare in Hilo. Including Brahea, and parajubaea. But ceroxylon continues to be dwarfed. At my elevation, I am able to grow cost redwoods, Pines and maples. Surely one thinks it would be cool enough.

1 hour ago, Mauna Kea Cloudforest said:

That’s an oversimplification. I don’t think that New Zealand has tropical latosol structure like Hawaii has. Furthermore, we have plenty of higher elevation locations that would support ceroxylon climate wise. Yet there’s practically no ceroxylon in Hawaii except for dwarf runts that somehow survive. I still have one that puts on New fronds.I’m at higher elevation where I’m able to grow other Cloudforest Palms. I am able to grow parajubaea. I also successfully grow a number of New Zealand conifers and my particular microclimate is cold enough to grow coast redwoods and deciduous maples.

So I continue to be puzzled by the absence of Ceroxylon including the Amazonicum which even Jeff Marcus did not plant in the ground in his collection even though he produced them in his nursery.

I’m not suggesting Hawaiian soil is the same as in NZ, I would just find it hard to believe that soil would be the reason they wouldn’t do well. I don’t think there’s a lot of evidence in cultivation that Ceroxylon are picky with soil - in Melbourne alone I’ve seen them thrive in predominantly clay soils and also nearly beach sand. There’s also great examples of Ceroxylon in Tassie, NSW, NZ, California and parts of Europe which all have hugely variable soils.

The one thing I do know is that nearly all species apart from C amazonicum, C ravenii and to an extent C echinulatum struggle with tropical conditions. If you’ve got some elevation to keep temps down, give one of the lower elevation Ceroxylons a go. I don’t see why they wouldn’t do well considering they hail from similar parts to Iriartia, Socratea and Dictyocaryum which all do famously well.

Time will tell if they take my summer heat!

Here’s mine a year later. Some growth but pretty slow still. I hope it speeds up a bit with time.

25 minutes ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

Here’s mine a year later. Some growth but pretty slow still. I hope it speeds up a bit with time.

Looking good though Jim, even if slow. Mine are both crawling along, although one seems a bit quicker than the other. The fastest Ceroxylon I have is a vogelianum, which is absolutely flying now, and leaving its three siblings for dead. I've got no idea why that particular palm is so happy, maybe just genetics, who knows?

23 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

Looking good though Jim, even if slow. Mine are both crawling along, although one seems a bit quicker than the other. The fastest Ceroxylon I have is a vogelianum, which is absolutely flying now, and leaving its three siblings for dead. I've got no idea why that particular palm is so happy, maybe just genetics, who knows?

C vogelianum also my fastest mate. I suspect it’s genetics - its growth habit seems to be more ‘reach for the sky’ than ‘fronds erupting from ground level for decades’ like the really big species. My larger of 2 C vogelianum specimens in the garden is now as tall or taller than all of my other Ceroxylon. It’s from seed from 2018, compared to similar sized C alpinum from 2007 seed. Kind of hard to get a good photo but the C vogelianum is around 2m/7’ tall and it’s starting to look nice and plumose. Was from C ‘parvifrons’ seed from RPS - the initial disappointment of not having parvifrons has worn off seeing this develop, especially now having hopefully true C parvifrons seedlings.

18 minutes ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

C vogelianum also my fastest mate. I suspect it’s genetics - its growth habit seems to be more ‘reach for the sky’ than ‘fronds erupting from ground level for decades’ like the really big species. My larger of 2 C vogelianum specimens in the garden is now as tall or taller than all of my other Ceroxylon. It’s from seed from 2018, compared to similar sized C alpinum from 2007 seed. Kind of hard to get a good photo but the C vogelianum is around 2m/7’ tall and it’s starting to look nice and plumose. Was from C ‘parvifrons’ seed from RPS - the initial disappointment of not having parvifrons has worn off seeing this develop, especially now having hopefully true C parvifrons seedlings.

Coming along nicely Tim...sheesh, it's a jungle in there!

My Vogelianums were also meant to be parvifrons, but from an earlier batch, so it looks like RPS were getting it consistently wrong, lol. Hopefully we're on the right track with this latest batch. Like you, after the initial disappointment, I'm now really enjoying this species, they're super scruffy and quite adorable, bit like a wet dog!

My fastest is C. alpinum. This one being approximately fifteen years old from seed. Still no trunk though.

3 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

My fastest is C. alpinum. This one being approximately fifteen years old from seed. Still no trunk though.

Good grief Jim, that looks great! Attractive petiole’s and abaxial side of the pinnae.

Tim

On 6/12/2026 at 3:48 PM, Hillizard said:

This week has been a real trial for my little Ceroxylon amazonicum! Today at 3 PM the temperature... in the shade... was 106 °Fahrenheit (41.11 °Celsius). It's putting out its second leaf since it arrived at my place from Ecuador (via Florida). I'm keeping it in shade and in a deep saucer of water. Hopefully it'll put out a pinnate leaf before year's end?

Have you thought about getting it into the ground ASAP? Roots are far more sensitive to heat and cold than the top of a plant. I've lost a few palms in pots here in Palm Springs and I later re-ordered the same species and put them directly in the ground and they grew fine through the heat of summer. You my find the same treatment may keep your nice young Ceroxylon going. If you don't want to commit it to a final growing spot, you could just plunge the pot in a hole until the fall/winter, you should get the same effect.

14 hours ago, mnorell said:

Have you thought about getting it into the ground ASAP? Roots are far more sensitive to heat and cold than the top of a plant. I've lost a few palms in pots here in Palm Springs and I later re-ordered the same species and put them directly in the ground and they grew fine through the heat of summer. You my find the same treatment may keep your nice young Ceroxylon going. If you don't want to commit it to a final growing spot, you could just plunge the pot in a hole until the fall/winter, you should get the same effect.

Glad to learn you've had success. I had sunk in the ground a small C. amazonicum a few years ago in its pot and it steadily declined under the same damp and shady conditions as my current one. I may see how well this one grows over the summer and then make a decision in the fall when the rains resume.

I have half a dozen amazonicum grown from seed. I think I got 100% germination and never lost a plant. They seem hard to kill but will sit looking happy and healthy but do almost nothing if their requirements are not met. I think maybe deep soil is a must and might be the missing ingredient in some Hawaiian gardens that seem to grow out of rock! My largest is about 5 metres but the smallest under 1 metre. Nowhere near trunking yet after about 15 years from seed.

7 hours ago, Hillizard said:

Glad to learn you've had success. I had sunk in the ground a small C. amazonicum a few years ago in its pot and it steadily declined under the same damp and shady conditions as my current one. I may see how well this one grows over the summer and then make a decision in the fall when the rains resume.

That must be frustrating and sorry to hear that the ground-plunging didn't work. It's such a beautiful genus, and such a shame that Ceroxylon is so sensitive to heatwaves. At least it's something that folks on the chilly/foggy coast of central and northern California can grow to perfection. But per Richard's comments above, perhaps there's something about a rocky and superbly drained substrate that could give it the ability to survive. The roots may need lots of oxygen and planting in typical planting mix/mulch may suffocate the root-zone.

And just to clarify, I didn't have my above-stated experiences with Ceroxylon...I think I wouldn't try that genus, even A. amazonicum, out here in the desert. It was with a number of other genera/species. What comes to mind is a couple of species of Ravenea that collapsed in the heat, also a few others but I will have to look back over my notes to remind myself of what exactly has failed on me in containers in the middle of summer here.

Jim, if you can find one, Ceroxylon peruvianum is a rocket. About 12 years from seed to 5 feet of trunk for me.

14 hours ago, LJG said:

Jim, if you can find one, Ceroxylon peruvianum is a rocket. About 12 years from seed to 5 feet of trunk for me.

That’s amazing growth speed, Len!