PlantFiles: Red Palm, White Barbel Palm
Acanthophoenix crinita

A.crinita is endemics to Mascareignes; Mauritius and Reunion. Calling it red palm is inaproppriate because is commonly confused with A.rubra. This A.crinita is also called white barbel because it is clear green when young ( sometimes almost tranparent). In Reunion island is called " Palmier Noir Des Haut" which means black palm of the highland. It is light green when seedling but turn dark brown when adult (almost black). A.crinita is less slow than A.rubra (my own experience). Though it is rare and even easily grown , never seen it being sold in nurseries. Is one of the reason is still rather rare. In some private garden where it can be seen in Curepipe (on the central plateau in Mauritius) , there are seedlings just grow like weeds underneath adult plants.

I have 2yrold plants grown from seeds collected from very high altitude on Reunion isld. Very slow growing but were not affected by a few days at -4°c (min. -6°c by night)

Though as a young tree this is a viciously spiny palm, it is also a very attractive one. It is one of the newest successfully introduced palms to gardens of Southern California. It is a native of Mauritius and Reunion Islands in the Indian Ocean where it is endangered. THe type species have very attracive red petioles and a lot of color in the stems when young. However they seem to be a lot slower growing and less hardy than the less colorful crinita varieties. I got one of these planted long before I had heard about it in anyone else's garden and fully expected it to kark the first breath of winter... but surprisingly it took temps in the high 20s without a hint of trouble, not even brown tipping. It has been a slow and steady grower since. As an adult palm (none in So Cal yet) they lose their spines, but keep the nice yellowy crownshaft and perfectly evenly spaced drooping leaves (also spiny as a seedling- not sure about as an adult).

Article in Palms journal Vol 50 (2) 2006 gives this plant separate species status. Now called Acanthophoenix crinita.