Who is growing or at least germinating seeds of this spectacular "cold hardy " palm? Who has more info about the botanic aspects of this apparently new species? I am fortunate to have some seeds germinating. Rarepalmseeds describes it as follow: "A spectacular new Lanonia found at high elevation on limestone hills in northern Vietnam. It is related to Lanonia dasyantha but differs in its larger, very heavily mottled glossy leaf and significantly larger seeds. Like Lanonia dasyantha, it is tolerant of prolonged cool conditions and temperatures that can occasionally go down almost to freezing even in habitat. This is despite its very tropical apperarance, and very much unlike similar palms such as Licuala mattanensis 'Mapu', Licuala sp. 'Kalimantan Mottled' or Licuala maculata, which are very demanding and only grow well in hot humid tropical climates. Lanonia sp. 'Large Mottled' will actually grow successfully not only in tropical but also in warm temperate climates, where it appreciates a protected spot in filtered light. Our seeds were collected only from a very remote, high elevation population where every single plant shows a heavily mottled leaf. Lower elevation populations, also in northern Vietnam show a less intensely mottled leaf even though their seeds are a similar size, see Lanonia sp. 'Less Mottled'" ( pics from the RPS site)

I’m lucky to have been given a few seedlings of L sp ‘Large Mottled’ Alberto. We’ve had a very mild June so far, so it’s too early too tell how it will go in cool conditions long term but I’d suspect it would be similarly hardy to L dasyantha based on habitat. At the one leaf stage, it looks nearly identical to every other Lanonia I’ve grown from seed.

Got a couple hundred of them in tubes, they seem quite tough and easy to grow so far, already taking 5 degrees celcius this winter. No special protection just sitting outside. And showing good mottling at a young age!