Correction on my zone I meant to put 7a

You really can't tell from a plant that small. You didn't say if this is from a grower or if it's a "weed" dug out of someone's backyard. If the latter, W. robusta is orders of magnitude more abundant in L.A. than W. filifera (but the latter *do* occur there). There are hybrids, too.

Just give it up! There are too many hybrids out there. These species hybridize readily. I always wonder about this one too...have about a half dozen of 'em. Hopefully, yours has the best of both species!

Looking at your pic, my opinion is that it is, in fact either a hybrid, or a robusta.

Carson city- I agree with NJoasis, its either a robusta or filibusta.

As for NJoasis' palm, it looks like a filibusta to me...trunk is not gray enough to be pure filifera, but definitely filifera traits. Filibustas have definitely become one of my favorite, and easiest, palms to grow.

Here's a pic of my Filibusta that I bought on ebay last month. It's literally grown 1 inch in 4 days. went from a tiny 5 gallon to a 25 gallon and it's taking off. I'm using Miracle Gro Moisture Control potting soil. Seen some bad reviews on it, but it's doing great!

I dug the other palm out of the ground in Valencia, California in a empty dry dirt lot, around May. The Filibusta is 33" and the other washy is 16".

((I'll post a better picture asap))

Heres some more pics

Washy from LA

Washy filibusta

Filibusta damage from cold

You don't really have a trunk to speak of in either of these seedlings. What you may be referring to as a trunk is actually the bases of the fronds. The growth you see now is directly related to the specific growing conditions of each individual palm. The Filibusta you bought online may have been grown in a greenhouse or a shaded area making the seedling grow tall in order to reach sunlight. The one you dug from a lot in SoCal was likely not receiving any more than a couple of inches of rainwater a year and was likely in full sun, making it's growth more compact. You won't really see a woody trunk in any of these for a number of years. Even then, you won't see the ultimate size/width of the trunk until you have a mature palm in 10-15 years.

@central_cali369

Thanks for the reply. Im new to palms, but im obsessed with them and i spend a lot of my time studying and getting tips from people about them... Very interesting facts. Thanks again!

Edit: check out my filibusta growth rate post @ http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/palms/msg0207132918583.html?1