Wonderfully fascinating solitary fishtail-like palm from the Himalayas, and nothern Thailand and India. This palm is 'distichous' meanin...Read Moreg the leaves come out in two ranks only, one leaf on top or opposite the other... sort of like a flattened fishtail palm (since the leaflets are nearly fishtail). The leaves are pinnate, though, not bipinnate like true fishtail palms. It IS monocarpic like fishtail palms, and once it flowers, it only has about 6 months to a year left to live. Here in southern California this palm does quite well, but doesn't attain its native height of up to 30' before flowering. Here it's more like 15'. The trunk is an ornamental dark color of criss-crossed fibre mat. It tolerates a good deal of frost and I have not had a problem with it though the leaves do show damage with overnight frosts into the high 20s. Here in southern California it's a slow growing palm... not sure about the tropics, where it does even better. It is a relatively short-lived palm... taking only 10-20 years from seedling to flowering adult. ONe of the few palms the average southern California palm grower can witness it's entire 'normal' lifespan.
Wonderfully fascinating solitary fishtail-like palm from the Himalayas, and nothern Thailand and India. This palm is 'distichous' meanin...Read More