Chrysalidocarpus Prestonianus Hybrids

[Hilo Jason]

All 3 of these Chrysalidocarpus Prestonianus hybrids came from Bill Austin here on the Big Island. Seed from his Prestonianus tree. Not sure what they are crossed with and as the photos show, there’s some variation between them. 
 

First up is my personal favorite of the 3:

 

And then there’s this one that is similar to the first but has split into 2:

 

And then this one is quite a bit different. Coloring, leaf structure and form, and it pushed out one sucker off the main plant awhile ago:

I will try to also post photos of my big one from my previous garden that also came from Bill but a few years before I got these. It was different as well as it had irregular / almost plumose leaflets.  
 

Feel free to share pictures of this hybrid here if you are growing it. 

[Hilo Jason]

These are all planted along my driveway so here’s an overall shot of that area. Concrete was poured just a couple weeks ago. 

 

 

[JohnStraz]

very nice thanks for sharing what beauties 

[realarch]

Whoa Jason, that’s fantastic! 

Tim

[tim_brissy_13]

There’s a few prestonianus hybrids floating around in Aus now too. I got this one as a straight prestonianus 4 years ago but it arrived with a sucker which died shortly after. 
 

Seems like prestonianus is a good hybrid mother. It seems to pass on the size and growth habit but hybrids can sometimes get the leaflet arrangement from the father which is quite nice if they are more regularly arranged in my opinion. The best benefit in my climate is it is more robust and hardy than either parent (I’m guessing it was pollinated by something like cabadae). 

[Hilo Jason]

1 hour ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

There’s a few prestonianus hybrids floating around in Aus now too. I got this one as a straight prestonianus 4 years ago but it arrived with a sucker which died shortly after. 
 

Seems like prestonianus is a good hybrid mother. It seems to pass on the size and growth habit but hybrids can sometimes get the leaflet arrangement from the father which is quite nice if they are more regularly arranged in my opinion. The best benefit in my climate is it is more robust and hardy than either parent (I’m guessing it was pollinated by something like cabadae). 

Nice!  Thanks for posting 

[Tracy]

On 10/17/2024 at 10:42 PM, Hilo Jason said:

All 3 of these Chrysalidocarpus Prestonianus hybrids came from Bill Austin here on the Big Island. Seed from his Prestonianus tree. Not sure what they are crossed with and as the photos show, there’s some variation between them. 
 

First up is my personal favorite of the 3:

 

And then there’s this one that is similar to the first but has split into 2:

 

And then this one is quite a bit different. Coloring, leaf structure and form, and it pushed out one sucker off the main plant awhile ago:

I will try to also post photos of my big one from my previous garden that also came from Bill but a few years before I got these. It was different as well as it had irregular / almost plumose leaflets.  
 

Feel free to share pictures of this hybrid here if you are growing it. 

Jason, were all three from the same seed batch?  Second question is whether Bill could see these were different than pure species at a young age?

[Hilo Jason]

2 hours ago, Tracy said:

Jason, were all three from the same seed batch?  Second question is whether Bill could see these were different than pure species at a young age?

It seemed like they were from the same seed batch as they were all the same size when I got them. Small 1 gallon pots he had together in his nursery. I noticed the difference on these, I obsess over the details a lot more than him and he just kind of laughed in a very fun and chill Bill way 😂.  
 

When I first moved here in 2017 I bought 4 from him that all ended up looking the same. I had 2 in my Hilo garden and gave the other 2 away.  This later batch of 3, I bought maybe 3 years later and as small plants they all looked the same as the first 4 and each other. Hybrid Prestos are easy to spot because they grow upright and not subterranean like big heeled Dypsis. They just want to push straight up right away. If that makes sense. I’m trying to remember if they even had a heel and they either had a very small one or none at all. 

[Billy]

I wonder if the first one (of the 3 photos) is crossed with lanceolata.....