Plants Main Page - Front Page - House - Animals - Contact

Trees - Palms - Foliage Plants - Ground Covers - Flowering Shrubs
Orchids - Vines and Creepers - Parasites and Fungi

Palms
Family: Arecaceae (Palmae)

Latin: Ptychosperma macarthurii
English: Macarthur Palm
Indonesian: Palem Jepang, Palem Irian

This native of Papua New Guinea and Australia is easy to grow and popular in most parts of Indonesia. Its limited size makes this palm as well suitable for small gardens. It grows well both in sunny and shady places. It usually forms small clumps as young stems appear from the base of the parent stem. Stems grow up to about 5 - 8 meters high. The younger parts of the stem are smooth and dark green with decorative ring-shaped leaf scars. Older parts of the stem turn grayish green and do not show the leaf scars that strikingly.

Macarthur Palm - opening inflorescence bud

Macarthur Palm - mature seeds

 
Inconspicuous tiny white flowers appear all year round on inflorescences below the leaves and turn into sprays of small red fruits. Leaves are pinnate with leaflets that have typical torn-off looking tips. The dark green leaves and bright red mature fruits form a very attractive combination.

Strange enough one of the Macarthur Palms in my garden has even after eight years not made a single new shoot, though all the others produced clusters with at least five new stems over the same period. Falling seeds seem to germinate easily (but only in humid places), as the ground under one of the trees is covered with hundreds of young seedlings. The fruits of the Macarthur Palm are very much loved by birds like Bulbuls and White-eyes.

Macarthur Palm with some young stems

Coconut Palm - seedling

Latin: Cocos nucifera
English: Coconut Palm
Indonesian: Kelapa


Unfortunately Coconut Palms are only suitable for large gardens. If given enough space this most commonly known palm will add long-time attractive decoration, as its life time can easily be fifty years and more. Wild trees can reach a height of 30 meter. Coconut Palms need full sun, but can grow in a wide range of soil types. Some special attention should be paid to the place where its fruits might fall, as these can cause severe damage to both material and living beings.

In my garden I grow a dwarf-variety Coconut Palm that is said to produce fruits when the stem is only one meter tall. Though its stem is about that length at the moment, there is no sign of upcoming flowering. Still this tree is important to the garden as its large leaves are very attractive. On the other hand even this small growing variety has leaves that can occupy a too big part of my relatively small garden. Early cutting of leaves is necessary, as older leaves turn to a horizontal position and stand too far out.

Coconut Palm - young tree

Latin: Areca catechu
English: Betel Nut Palm
Indonesian: Pinang

One of the characteristics of this palm are its tall and slender trunk with clear leaf scars. Its crown exists of dark green pinnate leaves with sharp topped leaflets. The Betel Nut Palm grows fast and does not need much space and therefore is suitable as a solitary tree in small gardens. It can grow up to 20 meters in height.
Older trees will develop large bright red-orange fruits just below their crown. The fruits where in the past widely used because its light narcotic effect. Though betel nut chewing is nowadays less popular the trees are still commonly grows because of their ornamental qualities.

Betel Nut Palm - crown of young tree

Betel Nut Palm - stem of young tree


The Betel Nut Palm in my garden is only four years old and did not produce seeds or flowers yet. Its stem is still green and has decorative leaf scars. Later the lower part of it will turn grayish-green.

Latin: Livistona rotundifolia
English: Fan Palm
Indonesian: Palem Sadeng

Livistona rotundifolia is a very decorative palm that likes full sun, but can grow as well in partial shade. Young plants can be grown in big pots. Older trees have leaves that easily reach 1.5 meter in diameter and finally will grow a stem up to ten meters in height. The leaves are fan-shaped with leaflets on the edge. Mature Livistona rotundifolia produce large bright red seeds appearing just below the crown.

The Fan Palm in the picture on the right was initially grown in a pot. After a few years it became too big and was moved to the open ground of the garden where it grows vigorously. After a few years it formed a clear trunk with parts of cut leaves still attached. Some of the leaves in the picture are 1.80 meter wide. Sometimes the plant is infested by caterpillars, but never to such extend that complete leaves are eaten.

Livistona rotundifolia

Latin: Rhapis excelsa
English: Lady Palm
Indonesian: Palem Weregu

The Lady Palm is an easy growing palm, that can stand both partly sun and full shade. In case it receives too much sun, its leaves tend to turn yellowish. Its origins are South China.
This palm species has about 15 - 50 cm size palmately compound shiny green leaves and becomes about 2 meters high. After reaching this height the palm stops growing in length, but will produce numerous new shoots around the mother plant forming an ever extending cluster. Because of it is strong and satisfied with little light, it is suitable for indoor use. When light is too limited it might still survive, but will produce less dense and healthy looking stems and leaves.

Propagation is easiest by division of clumps.

Trees - Palms - Foliage Plants - Ground Covers - Flowering Shrubs
Orchids - Vines and Creepers - Parasites and Fungi

Plants Main Page - Front Page - House - Animals - Contact