Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

[Luc]

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[Stan]

These are pretty much not drought tolerant. My neighbor stopped watering his by late summer. At least one in his small grove of 15'-20' palms died and two others were down to only two good fronds. He was lucky the rains came in November.

[Geoff]

palms in first photo look more like Archontophoenix alexandrae... you sure these are cunninghammiana (usually cunninghammiana have smoother trunks while alexandrae have more prominent 'steps' like those in your photo... plus the leaves are flatter and more upright like those of alexandrae).

[Luc]

I took this photo many years ago and if I remember correctly there were tags on the plants but no, I'm not really sure of the ID. The third photo was taken in the Canary islands but the first two were taken in Monaco and there is few locations in France where this genus can be grown and each time it was A. cunninghamiana probably due to the lesser cold hardiness of A. alexandrae, at least this is what I thought.

[Stan]

I read that the Alex palms fronds undersides are silvery. That's something hard to detect from photos.

Also,I get you Geoff about the angle of the fronds and funny just the other day I took this photo- yes,just days ago- and I noticed no curving fronds. So,maybe some Kings with fewer fronds hold them upright?

[Stan]

Mine@10years from a 5 gallon HD plant.

[Geoff]

Though called King Palms in California, the Australians refer to these as Piccabean or Bungalow Palms and call Archontophoenix alexandrae King Palms... and these palms are from Australia so maybe we should pay attention? Nah. One of the most commonly available palms for sale in the US and one of the fastest growing as well. Cold hardy maybe down to 23F (or a bit colder if really brief snap and no winds to complicate things). Likes a lot of water (not a desert plant) but overwatering in clay soils can occur and cause trunk splitting (never seen in well draining soils). Leaf undersides are green like the leaf tops setting them apart from many of the Archontophoenix which have much more silvery undersides to leaves. Leaves tend to acquire a perpendicular orientation to the ground, which other Archontophoenix rarely do.

[Stan]

Trunk splitting is very unattractive I would guess its having much water at cooler then optimal temps. Since,I dont see any in tropical or the very near tropical, subtropical climate photos.They also have a habit like some palms do of lifting themselves right off the ground..I would pile dirt up around those. If you don't- those are the ones that can be blown over or at least rock in winds. Nothing good in other words, happens.
But,with Howea and Maybe the Parajubeae,they bring tropical look palms to mild temperate climates.

[Geoff]

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[Geoff]

A cunninghamiana has purple flowers, as opposed to the next most commonly encountered species, A alexandrae, which has white flowers. Fruits of both are red and tend to be very easy to germinate, often creating 'lawns' of seedlings around the bases of older plants growing in places of moisture (like a lawn).

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[Geoff]

Though it's rare, 'leaning palm syndrome', a condition/disease often found in Howeas (Kentia Palms) sometimes afflicts this species, too. This is a palm that was in my neighborhood... I think it has been since removed. Leaning palm syndrome is sometimes fatal if no one intervenes and tries to do anything about it. Some have suggested it is a boron deficiency, but that is unlikely in California soils. Some have successfully treated it with very modest boron addition (caution as this is a very toxic metal for palms) while other have been equally successful in just cutting off all the fronds on the 'down' side of the crown, imbalancing the crown, and eventually the palm seems to bend back upwards again (not sure this has even been tried on a crownshafted palm like this species, though).

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[Stan]

I can never understand how a palm that really thrives on much water,also seems to thrive in sidewalk planters on skimpy watering. In SF or LA I've seen them looking great in openings almost no bigger then the trunk circumference. No visible watering tubes. Even if water is trickled that close to the palm- it has only inches to sink into. The photo is in Hayward.