Variegated Caryota mitis are a clourful plants especially in sunlight. Sorry only one picture had the leafs in the sun

I really like Fishtail palms and that just takes it to a new level. I wonder if that is a sub species or a genetic anomaly. Harry

Thats's nice variegation Colin. I have one doing ok here, but it needs more shade than I can give it at the moment as the areas lacking chlorophyll tend to burn a little. It'll be a cracker once I get some canopy going.

4 hours ago, palmtreesforpleasure said:

Variegated Caryota mitis are a clourful plants especially in sunlight. Sorry only one picture had the leafs in the sun

Wow. How common/rare are the variegations in this palm?

Hello Slife00

the colourful variegated  Caryota mitis seed  turns up every now and then,

It is a sub species that produces seed that leads to this for of C.mitis

I just did a search and found seed available from this source.

I know nothing about them or can give any advice other than to show a possible supplier on google.

https://www.selaseeds.com/

15 hours ago, Jonathan Haycock said:

Thats's nice variegation Colin. I have one doing ok here, but it needs more shade than I can give it at the moment as the areas lacking chlorophyll tend to burn a little. It'll be a cracker once I get some canopy going.

It will fit nicely in my shade house dearie. See how kind I am to offer ?

Peachy of the purest intentions

Gorgeous as expected Colin.  I now have my first ever variegated palm ! A nice little Rhapis (hey stop laughing, I have to start somewhere)

Peachy

21 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I really like Fishtail palms and that just takes it to a new level. I wonder if that is a sub species or a genetic anomaly. Harry

I bought some variegated seedlings of Caryota mitis last year, planted two in the ground and have two still in pots waiting for the right spots.

The nursery I bought them from told me they grow them from seeds, my understanding is that it's a genetic anomaly...about every thousand germinated seedlings they get about 2-3 variegated ones and throw away the rest.

3 hours ago, miamicuse said:

I bought some variegated seedlings of Caryota mitis last year, planted two in the ground and have two still in pots waiting for the right spots.

The nursery I bought them from told me they grow them from seeds, my understanding is that it's a genetic anomaly...about every thousand germinated seedlings they get about 2-3 variegated ones and throw away the rest.

Thank you for the info . It makes sense that it would be an anomaly. Those are beauties . I would imagine they would look very nice as shade grown palms . I don’t have any , just the plain Caryota Mitis and they really do better in shade . I would imagine that this genetic anomaly would make them even more sun sensitive, just a guess. Harry

Hi Colin!

I bought one of these as a seedling from Floribunda palms prior to 2015. It is now huge and a good grower. It is seeding well and many are variegated. 
 

I fear that the oldest one may soon slowly die but many pups to live on.
 

I let it self seed and dig up some of the variegated ones to give to friends in PR. 
 

I don’t have a business, but if anyone visits PR stop by and you can dig up your own and figure out shipping. 
 

I tried once collecting seeds and forgetting to wear gloves to clean them and it was not fun.
 

And ultimately they were very slow to germinate and none were variegated so I stopped that practice. 

Such a beautiful specimen. Too bad variegated palms are not as cheap or as common as other houseplants .

On 6/12/2025 at 2:10 PM, palmtreesforpleasure said:

Hello Slife00

the colourful variegated  Caryota mitis seed  turns up every now and then,

It is a sub species that produces seed that leads to this for of C.mitis

I just did a search and found seed available from this source.

I know nothing about them or can give any advice other than to show a possible supplier on google.

https://www.selaseeds.com/

I looked at that site and it’s in Sri Lanka, not that there’s anything wrong with Sri Lanka but it looked suspiciously like senci rare seeds a seller with not such a good reputation. I could be wrong and hope iam wrong but I was not going to purchase from them. I guess palmtalk members will be the first to let us know about there business practices! 

I purchased 100 seeds from rps and got just about 100 percent strike rate super happy about that, but alas not one variegated one in that batch!