Would anyone know how to identify the species of these 3 Cuban Copernicia sp plants that I bought years ago in a nursery in Corupá, Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil? I forgot to protect these plants from frost and left them exposed to the sky (without a cover to avoid the formation of ice on the surfaces and the temperature of -1.05⁰C according to the agro-metereological station 500m from the house. Apparently without any damage.

Copernicia baileyana.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

I have no idea what variety it is, but you certainly have one slow growing palm and your growing it well!

Today I contacted another brazilian palm collector that also bought this seedlings from this same nursery , and according this guy it could be Copernicia hospita....(???) I took a look at pics of this species on internet and yes, they look somehat similar.... What do you think?

The bluish tones of the last pic of the original post do suggest hospita or possibly a blue baileyana.   at this size they are hard to tell apart.  My green bailey never had those glaucous light blue powder on leaflets where they meet the petiole.  If they are hospita, they will blue up as they gain some size.  Keep them in full sun if possible.    the 3 in front are hospita, 2 i9n back are macroglossa.

Thanks!! What is the reason of the "double pots"?

27 minutes ago, Alberto said:

Thanks!! What is the reason of the "double pots"?

I slit the 4" pots cut the bottoms off and planted them in the 5 gallons as I did not want to disturb the small root systems that were in loose soil in the 4" pots.  After the root systems ccame in I slid out the sides of the 4" pots.  If I had removed the 4" pots right away the limited roots in the center of each pot would dry out faster making keeping roots moist more difficult.  This way the roots were more moist and grew out the bottom of the p[ot into the 5 gallon bottoms.  No one told me to do this by those seedlings delivered by mail were loose in the soil.  I can just say I didn't lose any and they have sensitive roots.  If I packed the soil tighter in the 4" pots I could damage roots as well.  So I went pot within a pot  They are all in the ground 3 years today recovering from wind damage on older leaves due to Hurricane Milton.  The spears all look nice.  By summers end, I hope the damage has recovered.  Seven years after I received them as you see the largest is approaching 5' tall overall.  I did make a mistake of sitting pots in part shade for 18 months which probably slowed them down.

@Alberto I was thinking Bailey also, just based on the thorns.  I think, but am not sure, that Hospita are straw colored teeth.  It's hard to judge from the photos, but on Palmpedia Hospita thorns might be straw colored with black tips.  I know Baileyana is black thorns facing the fan.

11 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@Alberto I was thinking Bailey also, just based on the thorns.  I think, but am not sure, that Hospita are straw colored teeth.  It's hard to judge from the photos, but on Palmpedia Hospita thorns might be straw colored with black tips.  I know Baileyana is black thorns facing the fan.

My Hospitas have black teeth, but there is often a little straw colored tomentum on the newer leaves.   With our rains it comes off in time.  Here are the hospita teeth as of 5 mins ago.

If you zoom the newer petioles you can see the tomentum.

If they are blue baileys, you hit the jackpot!  They are not green baileys, to pale compared to those I have seena nd the one I have grown up to adulthood..

15 minutes ago, sonoranfans said:

My Hospitas have black teeth, but there is often a little straw colored tomentum on the newer leaves.   With our rains it comes off in time.  Here are the hospita teeth as of 5 mins ago.

If you zoom the newer petioles you can see the tomentum.

Do you know if the "black teeth facing 90 degrees from the petiole" is a diagnostic feature for Hospita?  I have several in the ground, but they are about 5 inches tall and will take probably a decade to be anything interesting.  I recall reading you said that Fallaensis thorns might be black when young but fade to straw colored when older.  Maybe Hospita are similar, as this PalmPedia photo shows straw colored with black tips:

48 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

Do you know if the "black teeth facing 90 degrees from the petiole" is a diagnostic feature for Hospita?  I have several in the ground, but they are about 5 inches tall and will take probably a decade to be anything interesting.  I recall reading you said that Fallaensis thorns might be black when young but fade to straw colored when older.  Maybe Hospita are similar, as this PalmPedia photo shows straw colored with black tips:

I think you would need a good sized set of data to discern whether that feature is defining.  I think thorns can dry out and subtly change color or maturity will lead to less black, its possible.  Fallaensis thorns seem small and the same color as petiole a waxy light green but sometimes they get brownish on older leaves on my palm.  Bailey thorns are 3-4x larger when mature on mine.  Might be different stands in cuba of each that have slightly diffeent genetics from limited hybridization in the various populations.  I've heard Cuban copernicias are fairly prolific hybridizers in the wild. 

I see teeth point towards and away from the leaf on the same petiole.  Could be a growth artifact.  Zoom the petiole ont heleft ion this pic.  They point down near the leaf and up near the bud.   Note the tomentum here too.