Trachycarpus: is it a male or a female?

juni 27th, 2017 · 4 Comments

Spring is the moment when this most populair palm species develops its inflorescence. Just below the leaves a typical yellow bud will appear. It’s not only beautiful to see and even a sign that the palm is doing well, it’s also the moment by excellence to determine whether it’s a male or female. The difference is easy to see. In this article we show them side by side.

Male vs. Female

Flower bud

Males do flower earlier in spring, the flower bud is much wider as well.

♂ - male

♀ - female

Blowers

The male inflorescence is much more compact and woolly. When you hit it, the pollen (yellow powder) falls down. The female inflorescence is much more branched and the little flowers look like corn grains.

MALE

♂ - male

***

FEMALE

♀ - female

***

The seeds

Because often the flowers are being confused with the seeds here a picture of the real seeds. To obtain seeds, a successful fertilization of the flower must first have taken place.

© La Palmeraie

Photos: Waterboyke and www.coldpalm.nl

4 reacties »

  • Reactie door David Nicholls — 25 maart 2020 22:22 @ 22:22

    Great pictures & info.
    There are quite a few reports the young inflorescence is edible, I wonder if both male and female inflorescence are edible. With another palm (Chamaedorea tepejilote) only the male inflorescence is eaten. The book “Food Plants of China” is very authoritative and thorough and simply states “young inflorescence,seeds” of Trachycarpus fortunei eaten, I’m guessing the author would have mentioned if only the male or female are edible. Any thoughts on this?


  • Reactie door lapalmeraie — 27 maart 2020 10:56 @ 10:56

    Hi David!

    This is even the very first time I heard of this kind of use of the Trachycarpus inflorescence to be honest..! I totally agree with you that the author would have been more specific if this use could only be applied to one of them.

    Kind regards
    La Palmeraie


  • Reactie door Elaine — 22 mei 2022 14:30 @ 14:30

    I have a fan palm tree in my garden I’ve had there for 17years and they have grown 4 pods and the top of these pods look like cauliflowers .. never ever seen them before . What can I do with this plant and any benefits from this plant or is it purely plant ?? I’m no green finger nor a clue just left this plant to survive .. and a big like myself seems to have done better than me ! Any advice??


  • Reactie door lapalmeraie — 23 mei 2022 12:50 @ 12:50

    Hi Elaine

    Nice job! It seems like your fan palm tree is doing very well. The flowering doesn’t have a specific benefit other than being used for reproduction. As there are male and female Trachycarpus palm trees, it will need another of the opposite gender in order to reproduce. It will be the female fan palm tree of course that will produce the seeds if polinasation was successful. With only one palm tree this won’t happen of course but you can still enjoy the beauty of this moment. Once the flowers dry and turn brownish you may cut them away.

    Kind regards
    La Palmeraie


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