PlantFiles: Radicalis Palm
Chamaedorea radicalis

In my opinion one of the most undergrown palms around considering it's hardiness and ability to withstand eveything that is thrown at it.

This tropical looking palm is growing perfectly happy in UK, and generally this is the reported case in most low lying parts of the country - reportedly hardy to about -10C, even with snow cover in some colder parts of the country.

They are quite slow growing however, but with a palm as good looking as this one, it's not such a disability.

My radicalis, both trunkless and trunking, sailed through Northern California's '07 winter freeze as if nothing had happened. For such tropical-looking palms, they are admirably cold tolerant. Their only drawback is their excruciatingly slow growth.

I grew the trunkless type in St. Petersburg, Florida, zone 9b, for years. The seeds can take up to a year to germinate. Mine grew considerably taller than the one pictured, perhaps to eight feet tall.

My plant was sheltered by the house and a huge punk tree, now an invasive, banned tree in Florida, but this tree was planted in the 1950's and was really quite attractive, with shredding white bark. The green palm-like leaves of my Chamaedorea were really quite distinctive against the light colored bark of the tree and the white painted cedar shingles of the house. Kind of a slow grower and pricey in the nursery trade, but worth growing for it's tropical feel. Survived 18F degrees, tornados, hail, hurricane winds, and flooding, but being in a protected spot and in a raised perennial bed probably helped.

One of the more common Chamaedoreas, and one of the two most cold hardy (can survive temps down to 20F). This Chamaedorea also does well in full sun, an unusual trait for members of this genus. This palm also has two distinct varieties: a trunkless form in which the flowers shoot straight out of the ground on long stalks, and a tree form in which a bamboo-like stem is formed. This is a non-clumping species with dark, attractive, blue-green leaves with a tough, leathery texture. They are also one of the few monoecious-acting- Chamaedoreas, sometimes producing viable seed on a single plant. Though actually dioecious, this happens sometimes and not sure how if truly dioecious...