Multi Trunked blue/silver palms in central Florida

[Merlyn]

On 10/3/2024 at 3:45 PM, tim_brissy_13 said:

Your C humilis looks like the standard European form rather than var argentea. The unique characteristic for argentea (aside from the colour which can be variable based on environment) is the thorns on the petiole. Var argentea has larger, darker thorns with are perpendicular to the petiole but your appears to have thorns more like the standard form. Even the standard form will have silvery coloured new growth and most retain colour on the abaxial/underside frond surface. 

I was over at Leu Gardens and spotted their smallish Cerifera/Argentea.  This one is unusually compact for the area, usually the petioles are a bit longer.  The super silver new fronds are a big contrast to the 6 month old ones:

I did check the thorns, though the picture isn't great.  They start out giant and spiky and a medium straw-tan-brown and turn black after a while:

[sonoranfans]

the function of the wax is to reflect sun and limit water loss due to solar heating.  When I was in arizona my part shade ceriferas went a bit greenish in winter, got more blue in summer.  I have 3 hospitas, we got slammed by rain this year, no loss of wax.   These are adapted to the carribean.  The wax will become brittle as it ages and fall off.  YEars of sun will crack the wax and then it falls off, perhaps rain gives it a push.  Seeing all those blue hospitas in thailand, you know humidity is not an issue.  When you take a desert blue palm, it tends to loos most blue in a climate that is close to its natural habitat.  My hypothesis is that those desert palms in fl;orida dont need much sun protection so the wax comes off a bit quicker on older leaves.  One year in arizona my cerifera was hit with 21F and had a spear fungal attack, lost half the(tip of) the spear.  It turned all greenish(not deep but light green).   It grew new growth fast.  When the following summer came around it was all blue again on the new growth.  The palms will take in more PAR when its green and  in recovery that palm sped up a bit  My experience with brajhea clara here was rapid wax loss, not like arizona.  I suspect these plants can use wax produiction to adapt to their climate and the natural state.  This is consistent with the much more blue tinted phoenix dactyliferas and more silver P sylvestris I saw in arizona, quite the difference from florida.  The palms that adpat the least to your climate will probably be the most persistently blue here in florida.