Short answer: You can't, genetically 'nanital' is fortunei and there are no 'fool-proof' methods for differentiating them. when they are older some claim that things like 'hastula twist' and 'trunk creep' can be used... But, you need to remember that I'm the guy who thinks that nearly all Trachycarpus are varietas of a single species.

Not a probem paul. Naini Tal is generaly hardier though correct? Just named for the region of distibution?

Ive read a bit about what you mean when you say " you think there virutaly the same species" for the most part. Takil, Naini Tal, isnt Nanus thought to be a dwarf form of Fortunei??

Mabey the question should be " what are the generalized differences between the 2? If any?

In a few years your Naini Tal -MAY- have lighter colored leaves,
the trunks -MAY- also creep more.

Crap...... LOL Oh well.... Now itll be a patience game LOL..

Just named for the region of distibution? ?

No, Nanital was just the name of the town where the palm is growing. IMO it is akin to something like the 'Taylor' form, but with a couple of, more or less, stable traits. It took ~5 years for the 'rediscoverers' of the takil palm to realize they were sending back seeds from the incorrect species... The ITS (intergenic spacer of the nuclear ribosomal DNA) sequence data fro nanital and fortunei was identical (as was much of the AFLP data, which can vary widely even within a species). T. wagnerianus, which is now a variety of fortunei, had a 1 base-pair difference from fortunei. T. nanus had the same difference. I've not seen a sequence for any of the other kidney-bean shaped seed Trachycarpus.

The mistake was really only caught when Chris Sturk did a phylogenetic study of the genus... The issue of the difference found in this work between the Italian 'takils' (the original palms used to describe the species) and the 'takil' palms that were rediscovered in the wild, has not been addressed.

Enough on this. I tired to write an article for EPS but ran out of patience trying to simplify my explanation (I'm not smart enough to make it understandable...). It was quite frustrating.

Not a worry paul i can understand it enough. Thanks again.

Dude, was it really -32C near markham last night?? Thats colder then here..

Paul,
keep trying on that article. I know it is hard, but the effort is appreciated. That article would be a big service.
And of course I hope it would motivate more palm phylogenetics work....
--Erik

Not a worry paul i can understand it enough. Thanks again.

Dude, was it really -32C near markham last night?? Thats colder then here..

Uh- I doubt it. I'm thinking that that's a wind-chill value... Here's the previous 24 hours for Markham (Buttonville: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php?product=obs24h&placecode=caon0409&ref=qlink_obs_last24 ) The recorded low was -16 there... Downtown was -11 ( http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php?product=obs24h&placecode=caon1761&ref=qlink_obs_last24) . Quite a contrast for not a lot of distance. Oh, and Pearson hit -13C...

It's amazing to think that just last week the Begonias and Geraniums were still blooming... Only Erica is blooming now!

FYI- As I write this it is -15C in K-town, not looking good heading in the night with that kind of temperature!

Oh, maybe they were talking about Barrie? It was COLD there last night, -25C ( http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php?product=obs24h&placecode=caon0040&ref=qlink_obs_last24)

It was a place north west of marhham, but if youw atch the weather network on the tv, theyll talk about it. I had to see it 3 times to make sure. And the said it was "base temps".........

I hope your ready for some snow dude...