Licuala grandis mislabeled?

[miamicuse]

I purchased three Licuala grandis about five years ago.

Now I am not sure they are all as they were labeled.

Two of them are shown below, which I believe to be Licuala grandis with entire leaves.

However, the third one has split leaves.  A large one in the middle and 1 or 2 small split leaves on the edges, like below.

Is this something else another Licuala sp?

[Harry’s Palms]

I can’t help with ID but I can tell you those are beautiful! Harry

[Rick Kelley]

I'm guessing that is just natural genetic variation within the species.  However, it does resemble the photos of Licuala thoana on Palmpedia. I think thoana is rarely seen in cultivation, so it's hard to imagine how one could have gotten mixed up with grandis at a nursery. No matter what the cause, I bet you will love that palm as it matures.

[miamicuse]

On 2/6/2025 at 1:36 AM, Rick Kelley said:

I'm guessing that is just natural genetic variation within the species.  However, it does resemble the photos of Licuala thoana on Palmpedia. I think thoana is rarely seen in cultivation, so it's hard to imagine how one could have gotten mixed up with grandis at a nursery. No matter what the cause, I bet you will love that palm as it matures.

It wasn't purchased at a regular retail nursery.  It was purchased at a palm sale at one of the local botanical gardens, where multiple vendors attended.  But than this is even less likely to be mislabeled because all the vendors there are experts, unlike a nursery.

This was two years ago in 2023, it showed the split leaf characteristics even back than.

and two years later, a bigger palm.  A wide middle segment, but to one side could be one, two or even three smaller segmented leaves.  Most of them have a single segment on one side and two segments on the other side, but some has a 1-3, or 2-2 split.

  

 

[Merlyn]

@miamicuse I agree, for sure not Grandis.  I might guess Triphylla, though I think there is another with a consistently big center split.  

[miamicuse]

On 2/8/2025 at 8:01 PM, Merlyn said:

@miamicuse I agree, for sure not Grandis.  I might guess Triphylla, though I think there is another with a consistently big center split.  

Licuala khoonmengii?  Someone suggested that as a possibility.

[Merlyn]

8 minutes ago, miamicuse said:

Licuala khoonmengii?  Someone suggested that as a possibility.

The Palmpedia photos sure look similar.  The only difference I see is that they say Khoonmengii is sort of a blue-grey color.  That might not be relevant in FL though, since bluish tints tend to wash off.  Another possibility is Rumphii, which tends to have a few splits when young and gets more splits when older.  https://palmpedia.net/wiki/Licuala_rumphii

I'm definitely no Licuala ID expert, but I did notice that they can change shape quite a bit when maturing.  Regardless of what it is, I like it and it's probably much more "rare" than Grandis.

[Frond-friend42]

Or lanonia magalonii.

[miamicuse]

20 hours ago, Frond-friend42 said:

Or lanonia magalonii.

Good one.  How would one tell the difference between Licuala and Lanonia?

[Merlyn]

@miamicuse the only one I can tell the difference is Lanonia Dasyantha, which is mottled.  Those also have "square" ends to the splits, instead of being rounded or tapered.  But Magalonii seems like a good guess!

[realarch]

Not sure about Lanonia magalonii, the wide terminal leaf is split and it’s not L. khoonmengii, the the three lobes are not split and it does have a distinctive dull green hue. Other than that, I got nuthin. 

Here is a pic of the L. khoonmengii in the garden. 

Tim

[miamicuse]

Not sure if this is of any use, but there was an emerging leaf from 3 weeks ago in the middle of this image below.

Today, that leaf has full opened and it has two leaf segment, a major one that is almost an entire leaf and a much thinner segment, just one, as shown below.

[John hovancsek]

These are exactly like grandis but have a split leaf