Pronunciation: kam-uh-DOOR-ee-uh ah-long-GAH-tuh
Common Name: none
Chamaedorea olbongata is a nice, solitary, tall Chamaedorea with ovoid leaves and mild cold hardiness that has been one of the more popular Chamaedoreas in California for many years. Though some palms can be grown in partial sun, seems to much happier if grown in shade or filtered light. Some palms in cultivation are suckering so are probably hybrids with something.
Synonym: Chamaedorea paradoxa
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Appearance and Biology
- Habit: solitary with a crown of 2-4 pinnate leaves
- Height: 8'
- Trunk: single; 3/8"-1/2" thick; dark to pale green; markedly ringed with flare preceding each ring
- Crownshaft: 6"-8" tall; medium green, often covered with some dead leaf base; bulge at base wider than stem
- Spread: 3'-4'
- Leaf Description: pinnate; ovoid leaflets with a drooping point; somewhat leathery; leaflets often overlapping; 2'-3' long; leaflets 6" long
- Petiole/Leaf bases: 4"-6" long; thin; medium green; often with a pale to medium yellow line along the ventral surface; unarmed; un-split leaf bases, often 1-2 retained dead ones obscuring green crownshaft
- Reproduction: diocecious
- Inflorescence: 18"-24" long; upright from below crownshaft; with some sparse branching; yellow- orange to brilliant orange
- Fruit: spherical; 1/3"; dark green turning black when ripe; often in large, closely clumped clusters
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Horticultural Characteristics
- Minimum Temp: 30F
- Drought Tolerance: moderate to poor
- Dry Heat Tolerance: poor
- Wind Tolerance: poor
- Salt Tolerance: unknown
- Growth Rate: slow
- Soil Preference: moist, acidic and well draining, but fairly adaptable
- Light Requirement: shade to partial morning sun
- Human Hazards: none
- Disease or Horticultural Problems: burning leaves in sun
- Transplants?: fairly good
- Indoor?: seems to do fairly well indoors, being less sensitive to spider mites than many other Chamaedoreas
- Availability: moderately rare, sometimes being available at non-specialty nurseries in California
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