PlantFiles: Palm
Chamaedorea plumosa

This is one of the most robust species of Chamaedorea, growing 'fast' and able to tolerate full sun, even in inland Southern California. It is one of the newest described Chamaedoreas but is already quite common in the landscapes of palm nuts. It looks a bit like a single culm of bamboo topped with a wispy tuft of sparsely plumose leaves. It makes a nice specimen in an open landscape, but will also do well in shadier gardens. Though it can handle some drought it appreciates a lot of water (but I have rotted one from over-watering in clay). It's one of the most versitile palms for So Cal. I have no experience with this palm in other parts of the US or the world.

This is one of the few species that I am even able to tell male and females apart (that is usually a feat I leave for those who are real palm experts). Female flowers are upright while the male flowers are larger and tend to be somewhat pendant. For some peculiar reason, males seem to far outnumber the females of this species, at least here in southern California, and the latter are sometimes difficult to find, for those who want to propogate this species.

Like all Chamaedoreas this species is dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants). Many local palm enthusiasts love to mess with nature and cross polinate all sorts of Chamaedorea species to make interesting hybrids. Some of the hybrids actually turn out to be more hardy and better looking plants than either of the parent species, but I am not aware (yet) of anyone doing that with this particular species.