Common Name:  Chrysalidocarpus pembana x leptocheilos (aka Paradise Palm)

Sun:  Shade to Half-Day sun to look its best

Growth Rate:  Fairly slow when young

Fertilizer:  Moderate fertilizer needs- granular or liquid

Water:  Moderate

Cold Tolerance:  unknown

History:  This hybrid was first produced by Seabreeze Nurseries in South Florida in 2015 in extremely low numbers.

Production:  The seed parent is Chrysalidocarpus pembana (Pemba Palm) and the pollen parent is Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos (Teddy Bear Palm). Production numbers are: out of 15,000 female flowers (three inflorescences carry 15,000 pistillate [female] flowers, once pollinated these flowers yield about 50 seeds, out of these seeds about 10-12 germinate and grow to healthy seedlings. Despite emasculating the inflorescences (removing the male flowers) and protecting the female flowers from insect pollinators, resulting seedlings seem to still be 50/50 pure and hybrids.

Benefits:  Although no mature specimens exist, they should be gorgeous, combining the emerald-green trunk of the Pemba mother with the red, fuzzy crown shaft of the Teddy Bear father with a little bit of white mixed in. There are a few Chrysalidocarpus cabadae x leptocheilos mature specimens in cultivation and this hybrid should look very similar to those.

Identification:  Easy! Eophyll (first leaf) on hybrid is pinnate (feather-like with several leaflets). Eophyll on pure Chrysalidocarpus pembana is bi-fid (forked into two sections).