Common Name: Black Mamba Palm
Sun: Full Sun
Growth Rate: Probably moderate
Fertilizer: Low
Water: Very Low
Cold Tolerance: Unknown. Probably 28-32 degF
History: This is a hybrid that was created in South Florida recently. It was made through manual cross-pollination.
Production: The seed parent is Dypsis decaryi (Triangle Palm) and the pollen parent is Dypsis arenarum (Sand Palm). Although a very small amount of pollen was available on a single stem of the Sand Palm (maybe only a dozen staminate flowers worth), it was enough to pollinate a handful of hybrid seeds which had nearly 100% germination rate!
Benefits: This hybrid will likely be less cold hardy than the pure Triangle Palm, but much more beautiful. Current plants are very small, but should grow up to be a black-trunked triangle palm with green leaves that have a bit of droop on the tips and the crownshaft should have a whitish coloration and have the traditional triangular (tristichous) leaf arrangement. Both parents happen to grow in very xerophytic conditions en situ (in habitat) so young hybrid seedlings have shown extreme drought tolerance- even more so than either of the parent species.
Identification: Eophylls (first leaf) typically are 1/3 the size of a pure Triangle Palm eophyll and grow much more slowly at first The leaflets on young plants are spaced widely apart which is a trait inherited from the Sand Palm father.
