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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Podocarpus elongatus 'Monmal' - Icee Blue® Yellow-Wood

This cultivar is pretty new on the market but the blue color should make it very popular and I have seem them popping up in several yards. According to Monrovia Nursery, it's a slow grower but will reach 15-25' and be as wide (oops) and be pyramidal, not sure how that works, but we will see. Spectacular specimen in South Africa.



Foliage is spirally arranged, narrowly oblong or elliptical, 1-2" long, blueish gray, stiff and thick. They have longitudinal stomatal bands on the upper leaf surface along the edge of the leaf, as well on the lower surface.







Plants are dioecious and I have no idea which sex this clone is. There seems to be remnants of some reproductive structures but I don't know which they are. You can see the dried up bits, but again, I am not sure what they are.



As you may notice Monrovia has trademarked the name Icee Blue so no one else can use the term, and as typical they have bent the rules for naming cultivars by assigning it a nonsensical name. Mon for monrovia.

Misidentification:
not sure, blue foliage is pretty unique.

Location:
Aptos
Cabrillo College Hort center, by the main building,
440 Cliff Drive.