Wow, Cagary, did you wild collect this plant or get it from a grower? I've never seen it in the trade. The thing apparently gets monster big, you know. Let me know how it does!

Lisa,

I got it from a nursery named Tropilab in Suriname in South America. The rhizomes they sent were pretty good sized. A link to their website is below. I don`t know how big it gets. The photo of one I saw in the Heliconia ID book showed it at about 8 feet, but you`re probably right. It might grow into a real monster in a tropical climate.

Thanks to Enid over at Natural Selections, I have some photos of it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tropilab

Hi gary, long time no see. I have seen this in the wild in Venezuela too but never in bloom. If I remember right it has a terminal inflorescens and the plants were maybe 12' tall. Now that I am thinking of it, I may have a plant of it growing at the nursery, at least this is what I had thought it to be. Probably collected it in the jungle. I will have a look at it on Tuesday and see if I can get a photo of it. chris

Thanks for the link! I like the common name they have: "Big Palulu". Never heard that one.

Found another photo of one and a drawing that shows how the flower grows straight up from the plant. The flower growth is completely different than Strelitzia nicolai or Ravenala madagascariensis. How cool!

Hi
Was hoping that some of the people here in Florida would speak up. To my knowledge i don't know of any here in s, fla. All the BOP are quite common could easily be mistaken for a T.palm if not in flower. I seem to remember reading about a nursery in Brazil that was producing a hybrid betwees a WBOP and and the Pheno. For the life of me i can't remember where I reasd that.lol Had bright yellow flowers much different than other members of the family.
I suspect that they get as large if not than nicolai.
Gary

Bigger. I don't know if they get quite as big as traveller's trees, but a friend of ours had one that got at least 20 ft. tall. I never actually saw it, but last I heard she had gotten rid of it because it was taking up precious space and giving little in return, to her way of thinking. Not sure if it ever bloomed, but she is a cut flower grower and her philosophy about plants is "if it don't pay the rent, it don't live here!" Phenakospermum was just a big old freeloader.

gary,has any of them sprouted yet?
in the spanish heliconia book, there is also a pic
gary