Trachycarpus oreophilus

[wxman]

Anyone heard of this palm? Apparently it is native to the mountains of northern Thailand and grows at 5,000 to 7,000 feet elevation. I was nosing around eBay this morning and found someone selling seeds for this palm. Looks interesting, I might germinate this one.

[canadianplant]

quote from RPS
"Trachycarpus oreophilus
Thai Mountain fan Palm

A recently described (see "Principes" Vol. 41, No. 4) rare species from a single mountain range in northern Thailand, where it grows on exposed ridgetops and spectacular limestone cliffs at over 2000m a.s.l. and is regularly obscured by clouds and buffeted by wind. It has a bare trunk and an attractive small and compact crown of regularly split fan-shaped leaves. Being quite unlike any other Trachycarpus, it will be an envied addition to the temperate or subtropical garden. Any plants larger than seedling size are as yet unknown in cultivation. Be among the first to try it out!"

and hardiness according to daves garden

"Hardiness:
USDA Zone 8a: to -12.2 °C (10 °F)
USDA Zone 8b: to -9.4 °C (15 °F)
USDA Zone 9a: to -6.6 °C (20 °F)
USDA Zone 9b: to -3.8 °C (25 °F)
USDA Zone 10a: to -1.1 °C (30 °F)"

the other sites seem to all have the same general info....

[Paul Ont]

I germinated seed about ~2 years ago. It's quite easy as long as it's not too warm (i.e. below 25C). I wonder if I have any of those seedlings kicking around still... hmmm.

[BILL MA]

I actually saw two of them at a couple different Home Depots last year in Daytona. I wish I know what they where at the time because they where nice sized, they wanted 59.99 for them which I thought was expensive for a 7 gal. I asked Jim on the phone if he knew what they where, but he said he didn't.

The crown seems to be much more open then regular trachies, kinda leggy in my opinion.

Bill

[hardyjim]

Hardest to germinate,toughest to bring to maturity.
Lot's of problems with seedlings damping off.

Very tough palm to grow from seed,needs a fast draining soil and regular watering
if it doesn't drain fast it's dead.

Geminisectus is also like this.


Bill

I am more familiar with them as T. Oreophilus-did not recognize Thai mountain palm.

They are second only to Takil in rarity/availability of any size.

I was lucky enough to find a "decent" sized one on E-bay,probably 5+yrs
old and very pricey.

These are not said to be very cold hardy and are somewhat slow growing-esp
compared to Fortunei.

[BILL MA]

I wasn't either that's why I asked you. You follow the trachies much closer then I do. Nice memory though

Where did you hear that name for them Jesse?

Bill

[Paul Ont]

I'd say, from the pics, that T. oreophilius is pretty coarse, but I would say that about any Trachycarpus, with the exception, perhaps, or T. martianus and T. nanus.

Jim- Methinks mine succumbed to 'damping off' since I have none of the seedlings left. I've never had trouble with Trachycarpus damping off before.

How are you Thakil mountain palms doing? I forget, did you get some of thse Italian 'takil' seeds?

[hardyjim]

Hey Billy boy!


Paul
I have 2 Oreophilus seedlings left,they are doing great.
I lost about 10 of them before I changed the planting medium and put them in clay pots!
Remember those?
Clay pots are really great for plants that don't like to have wet feet for long.


I have 20+ Takil seedlings from Europalms(the only source I trust),they look good!

Here's a picture of the Oreophilus-standard wine bottle for scale

[Paul Ont]

Nice! I'm still not convinced that the palm seed being sent from India is the same as the palms that Beccari used to describe the species...

We still use the clay pots for large specimens here in the lab (or those mutants/species that need extra care). I just can't afford to use many of them at home!

[wxman]

I have seeds for this palm on the way to me from Australia. Do you recommend using the clay pot for this palm? And why?

[canadianplant]

SOrry bill, comp died, ive been away, had to get a new one, lsot all my pics, music, links .......

I got that info from rare palm seeds, wheres toby ( if i read the article right) was the fisrt one to bring the Thrachycarpus O into cultivation. There isnt too much other info online. I found an article, written by toby and someone else discribing some trachys, but there was litle info in it about the Trachyy O. All i can find, is that its generaly concidered seperate from fortunei, and is very rare in cultivation, and most plants labeled as such are fortunei. Other then that, Everything online is just a repeat of itself......

Their apperantly one fo the few trachys that will grow in warm temps. But they arent as cold hardy as fortunei, or even nanus..........

[hardyjim]

Paul

I don't know if you have kept up with all the Trachy threads on the European palm forum
but these 2 ridge Takil seedlings are surely the real deal,very fuzzy leaves with thick tomentum on petioles and
trunks,much different then Fortunei and very similar to Manipur.

Another unique feature seems to be that they do not take long to put out totally divided leaves unlike
other Trachys that keep their leaves fused together much longer into their development.

A very unique palm indeed and quite different from Fortunei,much more similar to Manipur or even Oreophilus.


Tim

The reason I use the clay pots with most of my Takil and Oreophilus(also T.geminisectus)is,
they breath better,allowing the soil to dry quickly and me to water more frequently.

Keep an eye out on e-bay,there is a seller there that has Geminisectus,Oreophilus and maybe
he will even put some true Takil seedlings on there soon-none that I saw right now but as we move
into late winter spring you will see more available.

[Victorian]

I grew this palm from seed many years ago. Out of serveral sprouts, I only managed to grow one up to a 2 gal size (damping off). I planted it in the spring and it grew well all summer. Come fall we had a freeze (nothing too bad) and it died. I would say it is at best a zone 9 palm.

[Paul Ont]

Ok- The new 'takils' may be the originals, but I still don't understand why they are different, genetically, from the Italian takils (those that were used to describe the species). If they are the same as 'manipur' (aka urkhense or whatever) then I suppose that name would supersede the incorrectly applied T. takil name?

*edit- I wonder if the palms in Italy aren't F1 hybrids... If these were used to describe takil, does that mean the name is invalid? I thought of this when looking at some of the molecular phylogenies in Sturks thesis... The 'hybrids' (fortunei x fortunei var. wagnerianus) in this study also come out in wonky positions.

Back on topic, I like the look of oreophilius, too bad it's so tender and difficult!

[hardyjim]

Back on topic, I like the look of oreophilius, too bad it's so tender and difficult!

Yea,it's a great looking palm,it does not grow in very cold areas though.