Ceroxylon.

Wow that would be tall 200 years has a long life then.

Thought to be one of the oldest palms species in the world. Its as best they can guess since palms don't grow tree rings and the frond base rings left on a palm can be from one year or several.
So its mostly "He said"...

With all the geo and technology testing you would think they would of found a way of finding how old they were

Wow! What a find! I love Ceroxylon! My very good friend Garrrin Fullington (who very sadly passed away last year) was responsible for introducing them in the 70's to San Francisco Botanical Garden (I'll always know it as Strybing). He collected the seed up in the Andes in Columbia.

Supposedly, there's some Ceroxylon quinduense that are almost 300 ft tall in Columbia. My friend had some photos of them. They were amazing! They are extremely long-lived trees, many hundreds of years. It can take them 20 to 30 years just to start developing the trunk.

In 2009,it barely had a trunk- all fronds. By 2011 it had 3-4' of trunk. Today- what do you think that is? 20' of trunk plus 10' of stem and fronds.
So..slow to start trunking..but these Ceroxylon quindiuense grow like rockets once they start a trunk.
Now,to find one for sale...

Yes, they take many, many years to start trunking, then they take off. I noticed that with the ones in Strybing Arboretum (the ones donated by my friend). Last I saw them they were very tall.

Is this house in San Leandro, also? If so, it could be Inge Hoffman's old house. She and her husband lived there for decades. They were in the Cacti and Palm Societies. She passed away a few years back, I think her husband died in the early 90's. They were such nice people.

That's her old home. Most of the palms are still there..but the new people took out a large Caryota obtusa- the giant fishtail palm, they also removed the largest Shaving brush palm in the back yard..and the queen palm.
What they did to the large cacti...well,they took a hard pruning to them. They are there,but no longer tower over the fence like they used to.

Yes, I remember the Hoffman's home. It's too bad some of the plants had to be removed. :>(( They spent so much time on their palms. Hanz Hoffman was one of the first people I talked to about palms (in the Palm Society). He was so knowledgeable and willing to share information. It was so sad when he died in the early 90's of a brain tumor. :>((

The giant fishtail used to be right behind the Ceroxylon. It might have flowered- and started to die- or it was too close to the house.
The new owners also are a bit stingy on the watering.
Nobody will love your garden like you do is the lesson. Eh,we all knew it!

I do remember the fishtail palms, they had two. Caryota urens, also.

It's very true...no one will take care of the plants like the ones who planted them (in most cases).