T.princeps -green (Nova) is not new to all ,but very few people see how they look like growing in the habitat and are curious about how they look like when older. They were sold around the world years ago and are still being sold as fake T.princeps by some .But many growing results show that they are different from T.princeps by showing no or very little white powder on the underside of the leaves and also from T.fortunei by exhibiting fast growing habits.The seedling grows faster than regular T. fortunei and has wider and longer leafblades.It is probably the fastest growing Trachycarpus species. The seedlings stand more erect and have fewer, narrower and more evenly divided leaflets as opposed to wider and irregular leaflets in T.fortunei seedlings with leaves spreading around. The similarity they share with T.princeps is that the split leaflets are narrower forming about 30 degrees angle when they start to have split leaves whereas T.fortunei develop much wider leaves of 180 degree across. I personally think that they do look elegant as the adult palm with larger leaves on a somewhat thinner trunk are more tropical and exotic looking. The largest palm in the habitat I saw is 4-5 meters with a slightly thinner trunk of 15-20cm in diameter.The seedlings divide leaflets within 1.5 year and develop hair earlier than T. fortunei.The leaves are about 80-100cm, bit of erecter than that of T. fortunei and petiole length range 1-1.2m. Regarding the cold hardiness, no conclusive records show if they are more or less cold hardy than T.fortunei and no big palms are available to test except those from the source area. Some say they are less hardy. and more growing experiences are needed to tell how exactly hardy they are .
