Palms For California

Pronunciation: at-uh-LAY-uh kuh-HOO-nay

Common Name: Cohune Palm

Attalea cohune is a massive palm from Central America where it very tall with 30' upright leaves. Here in California very few trunking palms exist but it is indeed turing out to be an impressive palm with leaves maybe 20' long and nearly straight up. It is a fairly easy palm to grow in moist soil, high heat and minimal frost, at least until the bud finally begins to grow above ground. So far few palms have even grown this large (takes 15+ years to get to this point), but some of those have struggled a bit since they got that large. However, since it is still a good looking, impressive plant even it if may die in 10-15 years, it is still worth growing.

Synonym: Orbignya cohune

Appearance and Biology Habit: solitary with a crown of 10-20 feather leaves Height: 25'-30' estimate Trunk: single; 15"-20" thick; eventually a clean, very closely ringed, grey trunk in the tropics; trunk is extremely hard (very hard to cut- concrete-like density) Crownshaft: none Spread: 15'-20' Leaf Description: pinnate; plumose with leaflets on two very close planes; hundreds of long leaflets per side of rachis; very upright in orientation (until mature with many feet of trunk- unsure if any will ever get to that point in California)- like a fountain of leaves erupting out of the ground; dark green; leaflets droop irregularly Petiole/Leaf bases: 18"-2' long; very thick and strong; upright; leaf bases retained for many many years Reproduction: monoecious Inflorescence: none flowering in California (yet); from within crown; 3' long with vertical spathes, but eventually pendent inflorescence Fruit: elipsoid; 2" long; reddish-brown

Horticultural Characteristics Minimum Temp: 28F (prior to bud exposure); 32F after Drought Tolerance: moderate Dry Heat Tolerance: high Wind Tolerance: moderate Salt Tolerance: unknown Growth Rate: slow Soil Preference: adaptable, but prefers moist, well draining, soils Light Requirement: full sun Human Hazards: none Disease or Horticultural Problems: no known Transplants?: unknown Indoor?: very unlikely to be a good choice Availability: rare but probably the most commonly available of all the Attaleas