Chamaedorea linearis, Whale tale palm

seeds of Chamaedorea linearis

Chamedorea linearis is also known as whale tail palm, it’s been given that nickname because her young leaves look like a whale tail. C. linearis belongs to the Arecaceae and is native to Equador, Venezuela, Columbia, Peru and Bolivia, in these countries the palm occurs up to 2400 m altitude. Due to that it is also named parlour palm. C. linearis can reach the highest height of all parlour palms. In nature it can get up to 10m tall with a trunk diameter of only 8 cm. Grown in a pot it reaches only 3m. The leaves of the palm are pinnate. The trunk is green and ringed. It looks just like a bamboo trunk. The plant is diecious because of that it is always a female and a male plant necessary for reproduction. The flowers of the whale tail palm are yellowish and ball- shaped, the fruits are red. The seeds are first green and then they get black.

Cultivation
C. linearis should not be place to direct sunlight. It is a rainforest plant and in the rainforest it can be quite shady. So it is best to place the palm in shady or filtered light. As a side effect one avoids that the leaves of the palm become yellow. The palm should be planted in basic, penetrable substrate. The substrate should be corny to leave cavities for oxygen. The plant should be repotted when the roots do not fit into the pot anymore. Thereby one has to be careful not to harm the roots; this could influence the growth of the palm. The substrate should be moist all the time but one should not water the palm too much. Planted in groups C. linearis looks the best.