Hardy Tropicals UK

I bought a few small cyathea lepifera,about 18mths ago.They are growing fairly quickly,on par with similar size c.cooperi,I would say.I am really looking forward to seeing them,form a trunk.There's not much information around.Is anyone else growing them? I would love to see some pics of older specimens.

Have you got any pictures?

Kind regards,
Remko.

griphuz wrote:Have you got any pictures?

Kind regards,
Remko.

I'll go and take some.

Here we are.They are not looking as good as they should.Most of the summer I left them growing in my shady courtyard,they were a bit crammed in with other plants and a wall,so the fronds are distorted.I have moved them to a shady spot at the top of the garden,now. We are getting more rain,so I don't have worry about them drying out.They send out a constant stream of new fronds,so now they have space to breathe,they will start looking better.

At this size they don't look much different to other cyathea.But I really like the scarred trunk,on mature specimens.

I have a strange feeling,you are going to say they are not lepifera .

This is one tree fern I haven't got. I don't think C Lepifera looked like that, but I'm not to sure to comment. I wouldn't mind growing one, where did you buy it from?

I got them from mps in Holland.They were only in stock for a very short time.I must admit they look a bit different from a lot of lepifera pictures I have seen on the internet.I do think they look very similar to pictures of C.cooperi brentwood I have seen.But I am growing similar sized C.cooperi(from a very reputable source) and there is a very obvious difference between the two.I will treat them as half hardy and keep them in the greenhouse overwinter,until I can be sure of what they are.

I would class them as a tender plant. mps May stock them in future I hope.

I have had C.dealbata(possibly my favourite plant on the planet,if only it was a little hardier ) and C.australis from them in the past. They were both correctly labelled,so I am hopeful these are as well.

It will be correct. The fronds look different to C cooperi on closer inspection. They have some dealbata with about a foot of trunk I think at the moment for about €50 + so not a bad but at all.

What is MPS in Holland?

A lot of people claim to know a lit about Cyathea's these days, personally I can't see the difference in many of them (a part from the regular species like medullaris, cooperi, brownii, smithii, australis and dealbata). Also, when claims are made of something being a lepifera for example,.....prove it,.with a botanical description e.g. set it a part from the others.

Indeed, this looks to me like something cooperi/brownii-like,....but then again,..don't they all? (Well, a lot that is,..)

Kind regards,
Remko.

mps = my palm shop