Product Description

A solitary, large, drought tolerant, slow growing, dioecious palm. Common in cultivation, and common in the wild. It has a smooth, grey-brown trunk, *8.3 m. (*0 ft.) tall, *5.6 cm. (*4 inch) diameter with no obvious leaf scars, and huge segmented, palmate (fan) leaves, 3 m. (*0 ft.) long, 1.5 m. (5 ft.) wide, bluish-sliver above and beneath.

Leaves: Costapalmate, 1.5 diameter at greatest width, ****0 leaves in the crown, very occasionally green usually densely covered in white wax and patches of reddish. Note: This, the silver form being the most common should be the true type form, the green form should be the unusual type form).

Bismarckia nobilis silver can tolerate freezing temperatures to about *3.8°C (*5°F). It naturally occurs in arid, open, sun exposed, montane locations, and should be planted to maximise sunshine exposure. Under extreme freezing conditions we recommend you keep this palm as dry as possible. It should be noted that in its natural habitat the temperature swings between extreme heat and extreme cold occur within *2 hours (night & day) of a single day, and have little to do with Summer/Winter seasons. Therefore, this palm dislikes long durations of cold weather and may require additional heat or protection during the coldest weather.

The silver form, selected from high elevation, in South Africa can display a greater hardiness to cold. However, this palm is slow to resume growth after a cold spell, and any prolonged temperature greater than *3.5°C is fatal. A handsome palm, which does well in the drier tropics and subtropics and is planted in many countries.