Mine is a palm, Balaka microcarpa. Its extremely rare because it has been endangered in the wild for a long time, and may be critically endangered now. I bought a small one about 15 years ago from Floribunda in Hawaii. It comes from Fiji, and according to Palmpedia,i t is found only in a very narrow area of 2 forests, Coloisova and Sauvra, growing with Mahogany trees being logged in a very wet area that has no dry period. Palms mature at about 15 meters, rarely get larger, but it takes about 45 years for a palm to get to 15 meters. Another reason for its rarity is that it is estimated that out of about 180 fruits produced annually, only 0.1% grow into new palms. At 15 years old mine is still only 3 ft tall, BUT the fronds are getting larger
OK, here are two, rare being somewhat relative. This is a spiral ginger, and I have decided the ID is Costus comosus, based on all the stuff I read, which I documented in the thread at Identification: - Large fuzzy leaves arranged on one side of stem. That thread has a photo of the flower, the shape of which rules out the name it originally had. It also differs from most of the spiral gingers I've seen in Hawai'i by the wonderfully silky hairs on the undersides of the leaves. Four cuttings were given to me by a gardener at the Bloedel Conservatory, when I happened to ask about it just at the time that they thought it would be closing forever. I don't know how much longer I will have it - it has mealy bugs, and lately the occasional aphid. I have got rid of the hoya that the mealy bugs really liked, so I might be able to stay ahead of them on this. It's too big for me to take outside to wash off. Another plant is "rare" because it has such a short life. I bought my first Hemionitis arifolia, heart-leaf fern, last year, and it died within a few months. I bought this one in May, and I'm trying to be very careful to not let it dry out, but it doesn't have anything very close by to provide humidity, so maybe it will be short-lived too. I piggy-backed on someone else's thread to document mine: Identification: - Please help ID (fern?) : pics added I hadn't seen one of these before I got the first one at the UBCBG Shop in the Garden, but I found this at a local greengrocer, so it's probably not all that rare.
Ahhh Costus cosmoses. It is not considered rare here, but, in the North I am sure it is. We grow many Costus here. Many are hardy outdoors, but some are not. I used to grow 3 rare ones, they were not rare when I bought them because they were 'Plants of the MOMENT'. But they ARE rare now...Costus curvibracteatus "kiss of death', and the Emerald and Maroon Chalice costus.
Well, 'rare' is a relative term. Is it rare on worldwide basis or is it rare in the area where you live? Makes a big difference. It seems like the OP is using it in the former sense.
Yes I am using it in the tense of rare worldwide. But you are right, things are rare according to where you live. We cannot grow Brugmansia sanguinea or Gunnera here. Those would be rare according to where we live. But most of the gingers are wide open down here
I grow Deppea splendens, which is thought to be extinct in the wild. I have a Brugmansia (vulcanicola x sanguinea) 'Inca Queen', which is a highly sought-after cultivar with much more red than a usual sanguinea. My Paeonia ludlowii, a yellow tree peony is possibly the largest single peony plant in the world outside of China at over 11' tall (3.5 m)(I have fresh seeds if anyone has anything unique to trade). I grew Amorphophallus titanum for several years, lost it before it was big enough to flower. Grrr. I am about to start some seeds of Welwitschia mirabilis, a desert plant from Namibia , as soon as I can find a suitable pot (I'm looking for 3' long clay drain tiles since they really hate transplanting). Anchomanes difformis seem plain when you look at the pictures, but up close in a pot which is well off the floor, they are one of my favorite plants. Very strange and unique. Grew it years ago, just got another one with bihai's help. Thanks! :)
