Livistona sp. "Vietnam". is this L. halongensis?

[Eric in Orlando]

I acquired this palm as Livistona sp. "Vietnam" back in 2002 from JD Anderson Nursery (1 gal.) size. I grew it for a year and planted it out in 2003. Here it is today. For awhile I thought it might be a L. saribus hybrid, maybe with chinensis or jenkinsiana. But also possibly Livistona halongensis but I can't find many closeups to compare. The spines are smaller than L. saribus. This is growing at Leu Gardens in Orlando, FL.

[kinzyjr]

Very nice palm, @Eric in Orlando.  Any chance someone could do genetic testing to figure out the true lineage of the palm?

[Phoenikakias]

It has been considered such a possibility of natural hybridization between saribus and jenkinsiana in the northern part of Vietnam. Henderson and Nguyen Quoc Dung (2019) for more information.

[gyuseppe]

Konstantinos you like me see hybrid everywhere!

[Eric in Orlando]

I found a description of L. halongensis. I don't think this palm is it so leaning to the hybrid idea . It hasn't flowered yet so don't have that to ID with. I dont know why the description got jumbled.

 

 

Solitary palm. Slrlll to c. 10 111 tall and c. 20 cm cliam., flowering at c. 5 m 
tall, leaf scars conspicuous ancl close. Lccfwith pctiolc longer than lamina. 
Leaf basc and leal' sheath clasping the stem. c. 15 cm wide at basc. thickly 
woody: ligule rich brown. triangular and fibrous. the proximal 35-38 c111 
stretched to form a fibrous network. the distal c. 70 cm tattered into ribbons. 
Petiole glabrous. 1.25-1.30 in long. c. 2 cm widc at basc. c. 1.5 cm widc 
distally. adaxially llat and grccn with light yellow band along the margin. 
abaxially grccn and rounded. proximal 15 cnl without spines. distally with 
77-36 irregularly spaced spincs per side: spincs dull orange. paler green 
tonxi-ds centre. 10-12 mm long. woody. hooked. underside strongly keeled. 
Adaxial hastula persistent, papery, broadly ovate. c. 3 x 2.5 cm (hastula 
absent on the abaxial surlacc). Lrll~iillrr unsplit at basc. then splitting into 
one-veined scgmcnts which ~iltimately split along the single vein to become 
bilid. segments slightly pendant: near the margin. lamina c. 47 cm long and 
splitting c. 6 cm from base. in the centre c. 77 cm long and splitting c. 23- 
25 cm from basc, vcins c. 63: lower surlacc at basc with pale fawn scurfy indumenluni weal-ing off distally: intci-costal veins finc and slightly darker 
green. just visible to [he naked eye: margin at base with a C. 2 cm-long row 
of very finc teelh. Old leaves forming a conspicuous skirt beneath the 
crown. ultimalcly marcescent. 

[edbrown_III]

Here's and excerpt Henderson (2009) from Palms of Southern Asia