Tag: subtropical

Leipzig Palms Cultivating Livistona Fan Palms

Leipzig Palms cultivating Livistona chinensis. With a special palm greenhouse we can cultivate also other famous tropical or subtropical palms in future.

Livistona is a genus of palms (family Arecaceae), native to southern, southeastern and eastern Asia, Australasia, and the Horn of Africa. They are fan palms, the leaves with an armed petiole terminating in a rounded, costapalmate fan of numerous leaflets. Livistona is closely related to the genus Saribus, and for a time Saribus was included in Livistona. Recent studies, however, have advocated separating the two groups.

Chinese fan palms (Livistona chinensis) have larger fan-shaped fronds than their close relatives, the Australian fan palms (Livistona australis). Pronounced are the overhanging leaf tips that have earned the nickname “fountain palm” for these world-famous palm trees, also called Lifingston palms or Livstonien, are among the fan palms: they have round fronds whose edges are cut to about two-thirds of their maximum 1 m in diameter and are thus unfolded in many tips. The strains are quite slender compared to other fan palms, the annual increase is moderate. The Trunk is up to 15 m tall, 20-30 cm in diam. breast high, leaf scars obscure, roughened and with remnant tissue, light coloured, internodes narrow, irregular, brown to grey with age, petiole stubs not persistent, longitudinal fissures prominent. In their Eastern Australian home, these umbrella palms grow in humid rainforests on always moist soil. Accordingly, they appreciate in this country sunny to partly sunny places with regular watering. They tolerate short-term frost.

The Chinese fan palm is not particular about soil. Fertilize twice a year in spring and summer with a good quality slow release fertilizer that contains micro-nutrients. Light: fLikes direct sun and bright situations. Young plants look better when grown in part shade. Moisture: This palm forms a long tap root and can survive extended periods of drought. Provide adequate moisture for more rapid growth. This palm may be hardier than Zone 8. Sheltered some palms survived temperatures as low as 15 degrees. They also seem resistant to the fungus diseases that attacked other “semi-hardy” palms after sustaining cold damage. Propagation: By seed. If kept warm they will germinate in about 2 months time. USDA Hardiness, zone: 9B.

Livistona chinensis; the genus is named for the baron of Livingston and the species name chinensis is Latin for ‘of China’.

There are following species:
Livistona alfredii F.Muell. – Australia: Western Australia
Livistona australis (R.Br.) Mart. – Cabbage-tree Palm – Australia: New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria
Livistona benthamii F.M.Bailey – Australia: Queensland, Northern Territory; New Guinea
Livistona boninensis (Becc.) Nakai – Bonin Islands
Livistona carinensis (Chiov.) J.Dransf. & Uhl – Djibouti, Somalia, Yemen
Livistona chinensis (Jacq.) R.Br. ex Mart. – Chinese Fan Palm – Japan: South and Ryukyu Islands, China: Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan; naturalized in South Africa, Java, New Caledonia, Hawaii, Micronesia, Florida, Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and various island in the Indian Ocean
Livistona concinna Dowe & Barfod – Australia: Queensland
Livistona decora (W.Bull) Dowe – Australia: Queensland
Livistona drudei F.Muell. ex Drude – Australia: Queensland
Livistona eastonii C.A.Gardner – Australia: Western Australia
Livistona endauensis J.Dransf. & K.M.Wong – Peninsular Malaysia
Livistona exigua J.Dransf. – Brunei
Livistona fulva Rodd – Australia: Queensland
Livistona halongensis – Ha Long Bay Islands in Vietnam
Livistona humilis R.Br. – Australia: Northern Territory
Livistona inermis R.Br. – Australia: Northern Territory, Queensland
Livistona jenkinsiana Griff. – Bhutan, India: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam; Myanmar, Thailand, China: Hainan, Yunnan
Livistona lanuginosa Rodd – Australia: Queensland
Livistona lorophylla Becc. – Australia: Northern Territory, Western Australia
Livistona mariae F.Muell. – Central Australian Fan Palm – Australia: Northern Territory
Livistona muelleri F.M.Bailey – Australia: Queensland; New Guinea
Livistona nasmophila Dowe & D.L. Jones – Australia: Western Australia
Livistona nitida Rodd – Carnarvon Fan Palm – Australia: Queensland
Livistona rigida Becc. – Australia: Northern Territory, Queensland
Livistona saribus (Lour.) Merr. ex A. Chev. – Indochina, Malaysia, Borneo, Java, Philippines; naturalized in Polynesia, China: Guangdong, Yunnan
Livistona speciosa Kurz – Kho – Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia, Bangladesh, southern China
Livistona tahanensis Becc. – Pahang in Malaysia
Livistona victoriae Rodd – Australia: Western Australia, Northern Territory

Source: Palmpedia, Wikipedia

Leipzig Palms Cultivating Exotic and Endangered Tropical Palms

LE Palms (Leipzig Palms) cultivating also exotic and tropical palms, especially rare and endangered species. Together with Greening Deserts we want to cultivate also palms of the Red List which are in danger of extinction. For this work we need greenhouses and any support. That’s why we want to build a special greenhouse in the upcoming greening and research camp in the surface mining landscape nearby Leipzig in Saxony. If all runs good and we get finally financial support for this and other important conservation work we maybe can start on site with first preperations still this year.

We found many good and unused places around the lakes (Lakeland Neuseenland). At Cospudener, Markkleeberger and Zwenkauer lake is enough place for a first camp. We informed all responsibles many times and asked for free places, but got no concrete offers. Our demands or requests are still running and we hope to get finally concrete offers for possible places at the lakes. We need a place nearby the camp not just because of the palm cultivation, but also because of water research and the research on better irrigation methods and how to improve the waters or water quality – also for the important research of water plants. Everything is described and explained extensively on the Greening Deserts projects pages.

We already cultivating some rare palms, they growing very good here in Germany. Spring, summer and autumn are hot enough. Today we want to present one rare palm species which is well know because of their hearts of palm. The palm is a perfect houseplant and can be grown indoors.

Euterpe edulis, also Jussarapalme or Juçarapalme, is a palm species native in South America, which strong by the extraction of the palm hearts was decimated.

The species forms single strains, rarely is it multi-stemmed and then with few strains. The trunks are upright, 5 to 12 m high at one Diameter of 10 to 15 cm. The trunk surface is usually gray of lichen, at the base is a reddish-brown cone of adventitious roots. These have a diameter of 1 to 2 cm. The crown consists of 8 to 15 pinnate leaves. The leaf sheath is 0.8 to 1.4 m long, olive to dark green, sometimes with a reddish or orange tone. The surface is bare or covered with reddish-brown scales. The petiole is 13 to 54 cm long. The rhachis is 1.5 up to 3 m long. On each side sit 38 to 62 (rarely 70) leaflets. They are overhanging or hanging, almost opposite, regular arranged and provided with a clear midrib. The lowest Fieder is 29 to 50 cm long, the middle 49 to 80 cm and the Fieder the top 15 to 35 cm…

Euterpe edulis occurs on the Atlantic coast of Brazil and neighboring regions: Alagoas, Bahia, Federal District, Espírito Santo, Goias, Minas Gerais, Paraiba, Parana, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Sao Paulo and Sergipe. The area still includes the northeast of Argentina (Misiones) and the southeast of Paraguay (Department of Alto Paraná). The species grows in Rainforests on rather steep slopes, rarely on flooded sites. It occurs up to heights of 1000 m. On slopes and ridges can they form dense stands, especially over quartzite and on sandy soils. It also colonizes disturbed forest locations.

Euterpe edulis was for many years the most important supplier of palm hearts. In 1965, Paraguay exported 3205 tons of palm hearts, causing destruction of millions of palm trees. Between 1968 and 1970, Brazil exported an average of 2650 tons of palm hearts. The palm hearts were all derived from wild growing stocks. The stocks of Euterpe edulis therefore declined sharply, and use shifted Euterpe oleracea. Rather subordinate is the use of logs as lumber, roofing sheets and fruits for juicing.

Source: Wikipedia