Common Name: 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).
