Saribus rotundifolius blossoming

[Sarah R]

Hello

I have an old saribus rotundifolius with, what I think, are flowers. It has never bloomed before and I would like to know how long the process will take for it to blossom? One of the flowerstalks is turning brown. Is that normal? The other one is still green and looks more healthy.

[Kim]

Is the palm in the ground or in a pot? I have read "The plants that are used as potted plants do not generally flower."  Source: https://palmpedia.net/wiki/Saribus_rotundifolia  But congratulations on growing this palm in your location, where the climate must be challenging.

[kinzyjr]

Judging by the photos, it looks like this is growing indoors in an atrium.  Very healthy specimen all the same.

[Sarah R]

The palm is planted in the ground. I work as a gardener in a huge mediterranean indoor garden, and this is one of the palm trees.

This specimen has never bloomed before, so I was very excited to see these huge flower stalks. I have not found any information of how and when the flowers will appear in these almost alien-like long stalks. I am just wondering about the brown colour. Is it normal? 

[kinzyjr]

On 3/17/2026 at 2:09 PM, Sarah R said:

The palm is planted in the ground. I work as a gardener in a huge mediterranean indoor garden, and this is one of the palm trees.

This specimen has never bloomed before, so I was very excited to see these huge flower stalks. I have not found any information of how and when the flowers will appear in these almost alien-like long stalks. I am just wondering about the brown colour. Is it normal? 

I have a photo of the local mature specimen setting fruit, but it's difficult to make out the exact color of the petioles in the photo.

There are some better photos on Palmpedia: https://palmpedia.net/wiki/Saribus_rotundifolia

They tend to agree that the inflorescence should eventually turn brown.  The fruit is a very striking red before it gets totally ripe and black.