Pronunciation: kam-uh-DOOR-ee-uh brak-ee-CLAD-uh
Common Name: none
Chamaedorea brachyclada is an extremely rare Chamaedorea for California, and it is nearly extinct in the wild. It is also a tad tough to keep happy in California due to our relatively low humidity. Even in the tropics this is a tough palm… needs a cool tropical climate (coastal California seems to work best here). It is a odd palm with long leaves that come from a bulb-like stem (basically stemless) yet the leaves are up 6' long.
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Appearance and Biology
- Habit: solitary with a crown of 3-8 pinnate leaves
- Height: 6'
- Trunk: stemless to 2"; bulb-like in shape
- Crownshaft: not really any crownshaft, though bulb-like stem is basically an incomplete crownshaft
- Spread: 4'
- Leaf Description: pinnate; long and wispy with leaflets up to an inch apart; up to 6' long; arching; flat; leaflets long and narrow and also arching and slightly pendent; dark green
- Petiole/Leaf bases: 2'-3' long; medium green with whitish line down ventral center; unarmed
- Reproduction: dioecious
- Inflorescence: 2' long; many branches at very end
- Fruit: spherical; 1/6"; black
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Horticultural Characteristics
- Minimum Temp: 32 estimate
- Drought Tolerance: poor
- Dry Heat Tolerance: very poor
- Wind Tolerance: poor
- Salt Tolerance: poor
- Growth Rate: slow
- Soil Preference: moist and rich and well draining
- Light Requirement: shade to filtered light
- Human Hazards: none
- Disease or Horticultural Problems: tends to look ratty unless in an area of high humidity but no high heat
- Transplants?: unknown
- Indoor?: unknown
- Availability: extremely rare
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Huntington Beach in the Rossten garden
