Migael, thought you might like to read this. It is a quote, in post form, from a friend of mine in GA. "
Those of you who attended the summer '95 SPS meeting in Orlando probably remember seeing Dave Witt's impressive Queen palm. Dave collected the seed from his palm from one of a number of true survivors of the really cold winter of 1989, when temps at Disney World dropped to 17F. in late December.
Over the years there has been a lot of seed and plants distributed as "Silver Queen." I've never been able to get much information regarding that cultivar, other than that the stems and petioles on young plants tends to have a whitish cast and that the mature palms are reportedly leaf hardy to 15F.
Dave didn't want his palm called a Silver Queen, but did say that it probably was the same thing. The seeds are smaller than typical Syagrus, but otherwise the physical differences are pretty minor. Several of us were able to purchase seedlings from Dave and I planted one this past spring in my yard. It's now about six feet tall overall and I really expect it to jump in the next growing season. Another I planted here in 2004 (from seed imported directly from Uruguay) from a 5-gallon container is now approaching 20 feet in height overall. They grow fast.
The article below is from the April 1991 issue of Principes. This article caught my eye many years ago and inspired me to try to get some seed from Uruguay, which I eventually did, and I am glad to be able to compare the Uruguay form with Dave's Queen palm from Disney. At any rate, this article may shed some light on genetic differences within a species.
