Adonidia merrillii/Christmas Palm

[bubba]

For reasons, unknown, this elegant palm does not receive much attention or admiration. I decided to take some shots today of ordinary specimens here in the hood:

[bubba]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adonidia merrilli is ubiquitous in this area, notwithstanding cold events

[Fusca]

Very nice palms!  It's too bad that they're so hard to find in your area @bubba!  😆

[bubba]

20 minutes!

[kinzyjr]

One of my favorite palms, but here, only 1 or 2 of mine are going to make it.  The rate of death here after the last event will be roughly 9 out of 10.  The good thing about them is they are easy to replace.

[bubba]

I bet they do better than expected. The warmth in your climate in Lakeland will overcome that cold event. Best

[Johnny Palmseed]

I don’t think these are Adonidia.

[bubba]

You are likely correct. I was moving quickly and have the tendency to sometimes not be precise when it comes to palm identification. When I had decided to target Christmas palms, I did notice that there were numerous tall and slender palms with crown shafts similar to Ptychosperma elegans that I attempted to avoid in this group of pictures. After looking at the particular specimens that you mentioned, I believe that you are correct. What species do you believe this to be?

 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

2 hours ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

I don’t think these are Adonidia.

Archontophoenix!

[bubba]

I think you are correct! Same leaf style and straight without the curvy waver you see in A merrellii. Trunk seems appropriate size. Thank you!

[quaman58]

One of the world’s most beautiful palms imo. But they won’t really grow here, so I can only admire them while traveling. In the tropics, their success is their downfall, as, like Cocos, they’re everywhere. Kind of like P. robellini out here. 

[flplantguy]

I have one here that, when kept brutally dry, seems to have survived a drop to 24.6 with nothing more than a weed matt cover.  I think they survive cold better when super dry but that remains to be seen.  It's very small still too, and I expected death last year, so to survive hard freezes two years in a row is impressive. It does look the worst out of everything but the chrysalidocarpus basilongus though lol.

[Johnny Palmseed]

11 hours ago, bubba said:

You are likely correct. I was moving quickly and have the tendency to sometimes not be precise when it comes to palm identification. When I had decided to target Christmas palms, I did notice that there were numerous tall and slender palms with crown shafts similar to Ptychosperma elegans that I attempted to avoid in this group of pictures. After looking at the particular specimens that you mentioned, I believe that you are correct. What species do you believe this to be?

 

I would agree with the others by guessing Archontophoenix. The lack of the high arc petioles was what I noticed.

[bubba]

Flplantguy,

A merrillii or Archontophoenix?

[Harry’s Palms]

Kind of looked like Archontophoenix Cuninghamiana to me. Harry

[Looking Glass]

20 hours ago, bubba said:

For reasons, unknown, this elegant palm does not receive much attention or admiration. I decided to take some shots today of ordinary specimens here in the hood:

This is the perfect palm for down here.   They grow fine in unamended sand with no irrigation once established.  They grow without fertilizer and look fine.  They aren’t too big.  They are so perfect that every house and parking lot here has at least 5 of them.  A staple of mass production.  

Their constant seeding makes them fairly messy though, and they are as common as grass.  The mess I have to constantly clean up from them overhanging from neighbors yards has made me dislike them.   But I have to respect how well they do with no care.    

[flplantguy]

8 hours ago, bubba said:

Flplantguy,

A merrillii or Archontophoenix?

Adonidia, my archontophoenix are a seedling and a 3g still, this was a 3 gallon triple from a box store so likely s Florida grown

[Fusca]

My first year here I bought a couple of 5' Adonidia that were sold as Archontophoenix.  I wrapped them in a string of mini Christmas lights their first winter in the ground and they sailed through 27°F without damage.  The following winter I didn't bother to protect them and 27°F killed them.  They look a lot alike as juveniles!