Darren This is Hyophorbe lagenicaulis . One member of a small genus of palms endemic to the Mascarene island. This particular one develops a very swollen trunk particularly when grown in a pot. another member is the "spindle" palm H. verschaffeltii.which is much more commonly seen. They are rated zone 10/11 but the one pictured has survived down to 28 but have alwys covered with frost cloth in temps below 35. and used christmas lights. Grown from seed in the mid eighties and are now developing the swollen trunk but I have no room!! They make fantastic potted plants but will require winter protection, not so bad when in a pot takes a long time for the swollen feature to develop though there are some species of palms that require 50 years to mature !! Palm enthusists are patient?? lol Don't confuse this with Beucarnea often called Bottle palm or pregnant onion not a palm at all!!! gary

we don't get borer beetles here in California (often) but then again, we can't grow Bottle Palms that large, either. Some things (like beetles) come with great weather, and my guess is something is living in your palm and if you want to save it (may be too late) I would carve that spot open and decontaminate whatever is in there. Palms can often handle that sort of 'surgery', but only if there isn't massive tissue loss. Good luck.

Its starting to get it's characteristic bottle shape now! I cant believe they grew that fast in 4-5 years! Thats really impressive! -Alex

That's amazing that you started those bottles from seed! How old are they? They must be pretty old to be that size. I know they're slow growers if they'r anything like spindle palms. My spindles only used to push out 1 frond a summer, and they'd always get sunburnt, so I decided to send them to the compost. Yours look great though. As for the Minor, mine are on their first frond of the summer. Not sure why it took them so long to get growing, especially with this hot summer we're having. One of them pushed out 5 fronds last summer, and my Louisiana did even more. I remember you used to have a nice sized Robusta. Have you decided to try another one?