PlantFiles: Giant Windowpane Palm
Beccariophoenix madagascariensis

This is one of the best cold-hardy Coconut Palm lookalikes. It and the No Windows form and Beccariophoenix alfredii, Parajubaea cocoides and possibly Voanioala gerardii are nearly identical to Cocos nucifera. It is very similar to the coconut palm, except being very cold-hardy and having small fruit, rather than large. I recommend this palm and the other three mentioned above to ANY coconut palm lovers who live in cold areas.

The poster below is incorrect on growth speeds. Beccariophoenix sp. Windows is by far the fastest grower of the three plants here in SoCal. Beccariophoenix madagascariensis is the slowest, with Beccariophoenix alfredii a little faster then Madagascariensis. Both Madagascariensis and Alfredii are outstanding plants for SoCal. They are slow growing but are pretty cold hardy and stay green year round. I know of some B madagascariensis that were not touched by 24 degrees during the 2007 freeze. As of 2009, Alfredii is still a new grow for palm lovers. Before it was officially named in 2007, it was sold as Beccariophoenix sp. (High Plateaux). The High Plateaux in Madagascar can see freezes in winter so this should be a good sign for growers that like to push the limits outside of 10a and 10b zones.

All three are distinct as small plants. But as adults you would have to have a pretty trained eye to tell the difference. In the end, Madagascariensis and Alfredii will give us in California a chance to have something that looks more like a Coconut palm then Parajubaea. Its just going to take a VERY long time to get them to size.

Beccariophoenix sp. Windows has been named, just not released (as of 2009). The name of Beccariophoenix madagascariensis was given in error as those plants were confused from the real plant described way back last century. John Dransfield has realized this should be releasing its new name soon. Personally I find it to be the ugliest of the three here in SoCal and as others have stated, it is very difficult to grow. I know of only a few trunking plants and none look that spectacular. But if properly taken care of, it is the fastest grower of the three.

Apparently there might even be a 4th species of Beccariophoenix.

Theres has been an update by John Dransfield regarding this plam. Originally, 2 Beccariophoenix species, madagascariensis and alfredii. The madagascariensis had the windowed form and the non-windowed form. This has now been resolved. The non-window form has been designated madagascariensis, the window form is awaiting a species name. Alfredii was untouched. This plant described (and photoed) here will have to have its entry changed. The windows form grows slower and is more cold sensitive than the non windows form.

Well known amongst collectors, this palm is related to both the Cocos and Voanioala genera. Its common name speaks for itself, and I believe this palm will be much more common in subtropical/tropical landscapes in the near future. It is a bit more hardy to cold than Cocos, and the no window version is supposedly salt tolerant.

Also known as the Manarano Palm, the Maruala Palm, as well as the Giant Windowpane Palm; this plant is native to Madagascar. Its conservation status is endangered in its native range due to habitat loss as a result of ongoing mining and infrastructure development.

Given its conservation status, I am including excerpts regarding germination from this site-

http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/pix/BecMad.shtml

...easy to germinate and need up to 1 month to sprout.
soak for 24 hrs then place in plastic bag or tupperware with moist spagnum moss, temps were 85-100 seeds started to germinate after 2 weeks and kept germinating for 4 more weeks and produced over 80% success.
Submitted on 13/11/2002 by jason pasahow

...very easy to germinate and need up to 1 month to sprout.
Ten seeds sowed in moist sphagnum peat moss and kept in a plastic zip-lock bag were kept at ambient Central Florida summer temperatures (70F/22C to 95F/35C) and subjected to day and nighttime fluctuations. First seed germinated in about two weeks, with eight of the remaining nine germinating within another two weeks (adjacent germination). No seedlings have been lost to damping off and all are growing well.
Submitted on 03/08/2002 by Jason C. Skelly

This beauutiful palm thrives in Southern California and even survives areas like San Francisco, although only suburbs of the area since it needs temperatures above 70 degrees once in a while. lol. This palm is naturally slow growing, and tehre are few, if any, trunking palms in cultivation. In 8 years, you could expect this palm to start trunking in CA or Florida. It grows a little better in places from 5 to 20 miles away from the coast in CA than in Florida because it is native to a high elevation and likes the cooler climate. This palm can get 40 feet of trunk, and looks exactly like a coconut.

This is a tough plant for me to grow well, but I have not killed it (though I don't know how it's doing now). This has been called locally the windowpane palm because, as a seedling, the wide floppy leaves are mostly unsplit and have 'windows' nearer the rachis that make for a unique and attractive look. As the palm matures, however, the leaves start to show more classic feather-leaf characteristics and the entire tree becomes quite large and spread all over the place. Here in So Cal this palm is exceptionally difficult to keep from yellowing a lot, perhaps because of lack of sandy soil (which it prefers). In Florida it does a bit better, and does great in tropical climates like its native Madagascar.

There are two distinct forms of this palm, which will probably turn out later on to be two different species (still a LOT to learn about Madagascan palms). There is a 'non-window' form, which is much more slow growing but a lot hardier here in So Cal and doesn't have the yellowing problem of the more common form.

As mentioned above by WebInt this has turned out NOT to be the true species and will someday have a true name... but for now since there is nothing better to call it, and this is the palm most of the world recognizes as Beccariophoenix madagascariensis, it will remain as such in the plant files until Dransfield comes up with a better binomial