This beauty was not labelled in the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, unfortunately like many others.
Someone has a clue?

It seems there are "900 varieties of palm trees" at the gardens Myriam!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...

The Royal Palm is most mentioned.

http://www.ipanema.com/botanic...

http://www.ipanema.com/botanic...

I had found a site with a list of species mentioned when looking for another plant, what that site was I don't remember!

I may have found it though!

An urucuri palm (Attalea phalerata) with huge fronds (native to the Amazon region)...

http://www.geographylists.com/...

At the bottom of the page there is a link to other Brazil photos, including the Elephant Apple tree in Paraty! You might find the other links useful.

Thanks Janet, wow 900 species palms!! The garden is very huge and distances enormous to walk, and I realise I only could explore a little fraction of it as I could never spend more than a couple of hours in it. I think you need a whole month full time, to explore it all!
If ever I'm going back to Brazil and am stuck for one or another reason in Rio, I would know what to do with my time!

I am not sure about Attalea phalerata, difficult to explain... the fronds don't look as 'neat' as the ones on 'mine'..

I thought the same about the neatness Myriam, then I wondered if one of those tropical storms had hit it.

Look at the palms on the following link, you will see the names when you enlarge the photos, one is Attalea brasiliensis where the fronds look to fall from top to bottom, where Attalea phalerata fronds seems to be twisted almost as if the fronds want to be upside down. It does seem to be an Attalea.

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/...

There are a few Attalea species but being in a Botanical Garden of course doesn't mean it would be a local species.

http://reflora.jbrj.gov.br/jab...

I agree, definitely an Attalea sp. Janet. Which one is still unsure, I still don't have that 'that is it feeling' but like you say, appearances of the same plant can differ so much, like after a tropical storm, or else with age, conditions it grows in, etc..
I was surprised that in the link you gave in your previous post the person said that most of the plants are well labelled, I don't agree, I have piles of photos of different plants, trees, palms without labels from that garden!
And sometimes a tree is labelled quite a distance away and you have to come closer to see what it says, but you are ordered to stay on the paths, I got called back several times, ...playing the innocent ignorant foreigner!

Maybe Beccariophoenix madagascariensis, Window Pane Palm.

http://www.lundkvistpalmgarden...

Thanks Dave Paul, I think the fronds on the Window Pane Palm seem to be broader than on mine..?

When the plant are young, the fronds are shorter and more rounded. As they mature they elongate and somewhat resemble a Coconut frond. They were previously placed in the Cocos Genus.

Thanks for the info, I know so little about palms!